Just Finished the Book "Danger's Hour"-- Part 2

The first ten pages are devoted to an excellent look back at relations between the US and Japan all the way back to the 1850s.

Then, Kennedy jumps back and forth between the life of Kiyoshi Ogawa, the Japanese kamikaze pilot who did the most damage to the Bunker Hill that day (another kamikaze also crashed into the ship). Then, there was the day-to-day activity of the men on the ship. If you ever want to know how sailors lived and operated on an aircraft carrier during World War II, this would be the book.

Then, there was the horrendous day when the realities of war, what the pilots were doing to the Japanese was brought home.

How two fairly untrained young Japanese pilots would be able to crash their outdated planes into the Bunker Hill and take out one of the most powerful ships (and flagship at that) in the US fleet is amazing. Even though the ship did not sink, it was taken out of the war for the duration.

Then, there is the story behind the famous photo on the front cover of the book taken from the deck of the Bunker Hill that day.

Well Worth a Read. --GreGen

Just Finished the Book "Danger's Hour"-- Part 1

I am not a fast reader, especially of non-fiction books where I constantly stop to think about what I have just read. So it took me quite awhile to finish this very interesting book by Maxwell Taylor Kennedy.

I had bought it last April, when my local Borders Book Store was closing down. For some reason I find myself buying more and more World War II books and I don't need to be buying any more books as I am getting old and really should be getting rid of stuff, not buying more.

The book is 513 pages so is not a short one. I just now saw as I was looking to see how many pages there were, a really great diagram of the ship at the very end of the book, which anyone reading will find helpful. However, the author does a great job of explaining the ship in words, so I was able to picture where every place was in the huge aircraft carrier on my own.

This book, as Kennedy tells it, is a micro-history of one event of World War II, one of the most devastating kamikaze attacks to take place in the last year of the war. What I initially liked about the book, besides its being about the Naval War in the Pacific where my Main interest has always been, but, as the subtitle says: "The Story of the USS Bunker Hill and the Kamikaze Pilot Who Crippled Her."

After I bought it, I also saw that Maxwell Taylor Kennedy is the son of former US Senator, Attorney General and presidential candidate, Robert Kennedy.

Another Kennedy with some real talent.

More to Come. --GreGen