Bluejacket Odyssey: Guadalcanal to Bikini--Naval Armed Guard in the Pacific
Bill McGee joined the U.S. Navy in 1942 on his 17th birthday. He was assigned to the Naval Armed Guard, the branch of the Navy that protected Merchant ships and their valuable cargo and crew from... This description may be from another edition of this product.
Format:Library Binding
Language:English
ISBN:1889901059
ISBN13:9781889901053
Release Date:January 1997
Publisher:Glencannon Press
Length:518 Pages
Weight:2.35 lbs.
Dimensions:1.7" x 6.4" x 9.3"
Related Subjects
Biographical Biographies Biographies & History Biography & History History Military Naval World War IICustomer Reviews
2 ratings
Unsung Heroes of WWII Guarding the Merchant Fleet
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 17 years ago
Many young men joined the armed services after the outbreak of the war as soon as they reached the age of seventeen, the earliest age of acceptance into the military. Most joined for a combination of patriotism and the sense of not wanting to miss out on the grand adventure, never giving a thought to the possibility of getting injured or killed. Which branch of the service they joined and what part of the world they ended up in was a throw of the dice. Bill tried to join the marines, but was rejected due to a minor hernia. But the Navy needed men, injuries or not. He volunteered for the Armed Guard, a branch of the navy he had never heard of because the recruiter promised that he would go to gunnery school and be at sea in six weeks. Little did he know that he was volunteering for the most hazardous duty in the navy - manning the guns on slow moving merchant ships which were sitting ducks and primary targets for enemy submarines and aircraft. Bill intersperses his personal experiences with an overall historical perspective of the great events of WWII.
Not since Michener have I been so enthralled with a book!
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 23 years ago
My former boss was on the USS Celeno and sent me "Bluejacket Odyssey" to read and return. I found I just could not read and return it. I had to purchase my own copy for my WWII bookshelf.The research is unbelievable--dates, places, photographs. The appendix list of additional sources is fantastic. It's the kind of book to read slowly and go back again and reread.I never knew about the U.S. Naval Armed Guard. I knew about the U.S. Navy for I worked for the U.S. Military Attache office at the American Embassy in Norway from 1945 to 1947; then as a civilian secretary for the U.S. Air Attache in Ankara, Turkey, from 1947-1949. But all this time I never knew about the Naval Armed Guard.Not since reading all of Michener's books have I been so enthralled with a book. William McGee does a fantastic job of putting the U.S. Naval Armed Guard on the map. It's a great read. And all of it true. World War II was so sad.
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