Some Survived, An Epic Account of Japanese Captivity During World War II by Manny Lawton

A straight forward account of the defense of the Phillipines, the Baatan Death March, captivity in Japanese prison camp and travel on the Japanese hell ships. I started to read it, but is written like a report to the higher echelons. I could not finish it, because of the way it was written.

On Deck; Sacred Parenting by Gary Thomas

The Kills by Linda Fairstein; 2004; Scribner, New York; 383 pages; Fiction Fairstein/0-7432-2355-1; 5/22-5/24

Manhattan sex crimes prosecutor Alexandra Cooper is prosecuting a case which seems to be unraveling. As she juggles her other cases, crimes continue to happen and amazingly all the cases and crimes end up combining into one case. It is a really good read, exciting and moving right along, however everything gets too neatly tied up. RRr

On Deck; Some Survived by Manny Lawton

The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy’s Finest Hour by James D. Hornfischer; 2004; Bantam Books, New York; 499 pages; 940.5425 H816L/0-533-80257-7; 5/16-5/22

Morale defies quantification–and yet it weighs significantly on the ultimate lethality of the tools of war. A ship’s effectiveness is the product of thousands of bonds that develop between individual officers and crew. The bonds form and break in a chain reaction, the power of which is determined by drill, by relationships, by fortitude, faith and values.

With this quote James Hornfischer shows that he knows what he is talking about in this amazing story of several small ships of the American fleet fighting against some of the biggest ships of the Japanese fleet during WWII. In the battle off Samar, some of the smallest US ships fought the carriers of the Japanese fleet. The US fleet suffered enormous losses of ships and manpower. However the US fleet damaged the Japanese fleet such that it retreated northward and did not engage another US fleet. The narrative flows well and is remarkable in the telling of the story of the US Navy tin cans. We need to be reminded of the sacrifice of the the men of the US Navy. RRR

On Deck; The Kills by Linda Fairstein

Yesterday evening was very emotional. We traveled to Eugene and back yesterday to visit Ruth Ann’s Dad to celebrate his birthday. When we got back to Portland in the evening we went to Lincoln Memorial Park. There was a 3/4 scale model of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, which I have seen before, but I need to be constantly reminded of the cost of conflict. Before we got to the wall we stopped at the exhibit called Faces of the Fallen, that is when I began to tear up when I found the picture of my friend David Weisenburg. David was a longtime friend of our family and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of him.
After we left Faces of the Fallen we moved over to the wall, where we were overwhelmed by the 58,000 names. This wall serves to remind us of the huge cost of conflict and what results when sides refuse to negotiate and stand solid in their position. We did rubbings of three names, the first and last names on the wall and Theodore Shorack, the father of a high school classmate. We need to be constantly reminded of the cost of warfare.
We were further reminded of the cost of warfare by the exhibit mounted by students at Milwaukie High School in Milwaukie, Oregon.
They had gathered pop tabs to represent each American killed in wars and conflicts since the American Revolution. The over 2,000 killed in the war on terrorism is a lot, but dwarfed by the 58,000 killed in Vietnam, which seems small compared to the 400,000 whom gave all in WWII, which is even smaller than the 650,000 Americans killed by other Americans in the Civil War.
We must never forget the sacrifice of those who have served and given their all in the service of their country. We must remind those who would send our children into harms way. We must remind them because they sometime do things for political and ecomonic reasons, without fully counting the human cost.
Take a moment and remember the families of the fallen and those serving today. Pray for leaders around the globe that they will pursue other avenues besides armed conflict. Pray for those serving, no matter where, because you never know where danger lurks.

Bloody Mary, a jacqueline “jack” daniels mystery by J.A. Konrath; 2005; Hyperion, New York; 307 pages; Fiction Konrath/1-4013-0089-8; 5/14-5/16

The second in a series starring Detective Lieutenant “Jack” Daniels and her partner, Herb Benedict. There is a psychopathic serial killer at work in Chicago, the first alert is when a extra pair of arms show up at the county, fastened together with Jack’s handcuffs. The killer is familiar to the police, the adventure is in the chase and in the escape and recapture of the killer and the confrontation between the killer and the police. Just the right amount of humor to keep the crimes from being too overwhelming. RRR

On Deck; The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by James D. Hornfischer