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The 308th was stationed at Camp Eagle,
near Phu Bai, in I Corps, providing aviation support (helicopter) for the 101st Airborne Division. Later that year, the entire
unit was absorbed into the 101st, becoming the 159th Assault Support Helicopter Battalion. We kept the Chinooks, and the Hueys
were transferred to a new battalion. Since there was no longer a slot for me at battalion level, I was sent to Group.I eventually
wound up at Division Rear, located at Bien Hoa Army Base, near Saigon, then took an intra-theatre transfer to Japan, where
I completed my military career.”
J. T. McDaniel is the author
of Bacalao and With Honour in Battle. He is the editor
of U.S.S. Argonaut (SM-1 & SS-475): American Submarine War Patrol Reports; U.S.S. Barb (SS-220): American
Submarine War Patrol Reports; U.S.S. Cod (SS-224): American Submarine War Patrol Reports; U.S.S. Wahoo (SS-238): American
Submarine War Patrol Reports; and, U.S.S. Tang (SS-306): American Submarine War Patrol Reports.
According to the book description of
Bacalao, “When Lieutenant Lawrence Miller first sees U.S.S. Bacalao the submarine is little
more than a pile of curved steel plates stacked up alongside the builder’s ways. Over the next few months Miller watches
the boat take shape and the crew gather from throughout the fleet. By late 1941, Bacalao is in commission and attached to
the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Then, on a Sunday morning, everything changes as the Japanese sneak attack plunges the
United States into World War II. The new submarine and her untried crew are immediately thrown into action against the Japanese.
And Miller is there through it all,
from the disastrous first patrol, when the boat is nearly lost and a pair of surprising heroes emerge, to the deployment to
Australia, where a chance encounter ashore will change his life forever. Then, after a year in command of an ancient S-boat
in the frigid hell of the Aleutians, Miller returns to Bacalao as her last wartime commander. Written in a simple, straightforward
style, and with careful attention to historic and technical detail, Bacalao is destined to become an instant classic of submarine
fiction.”
According to the book description of
With Honour in Battle, “By the end of World War II, German submarine designers had produced
some astonishing weapons. Among the interesting were the Walter submarines, which could run submerged at high speed, using
a turbine engine that didn’t need external oxygen. One such boat reached a submerged speed of 24 knots in 1943, some
18 knots faster than previous U-Boats, and three knots faster than most convoy escorts. Plans were made to build several models
of Walter boat, though none were in service before the war ended.
Some years ago a discussion of these
boats led to speculation on what might have happened if one had been built and sent into combat. Such a boat would be very
hard to detect, and nearly impossible to pin down and destroy. And what sort of man would command her? A senior commander,
surely, but by late in the war what shape would he be in? U-Boats were, bar none, the most dangerous military assignments
of World War II. Only one in four who sailed in them survived the war. So an experienced commander would be not only lucky,
but also, more than likely, verging on what today we call a "burn out case."
And the sudden appearance of such a
U-Boat, with the resulting disastrous effects on the convoy routes, would naturally call for a response. So we would also
have a senior British escort commander, with a unique insight into his enemy after having been briefly a prisoner aboard his
boat, now given command of a new killer group and charged with hunting him down.
These speculations resulted in "With
Honour in Battle." A remarkable U-boat, with an advanced, but also dangerous, power plant; a no-longer-young commander,
knowing what he's doing is going to be too late, yet duty bound to carry on the fight, and weighed down by the deaths of nearly
everyone he has ever cared about. Not a "techno-thriller," but a traditional naval adventure novel, where the characters,
and not the machines, drive the story. And, of course, one with plenty of action to keep things moving.”
According to the book description of
U.S.S. Argonaut (SM-1 & SS-475): American Submarine War Patrol Reports, “During World
War II the United States Navy employed two submarines named Argonaut on operations. The first was a giant mine layer, designated
SM-1. Built in the 1920s, the first Argonaut made three war patrols, the first, off Midway, having started as a peacetime
defensive patrol before commencement of hostilities on 7 December 1941. The full reports of her first two patrols are included.
Because she was lost with all hands during her third patrol, no official report exists. A short article is incuded covering
what is known of this patrol, along with a full list of those lost. The second Argonaut (SS-475) was a
Tench class fleet type submarine, built by the Portsmouth Navy Yard and commissioned in 1945. She made only one war patrol
before the Japanese surrender brought the war to an end. The official report of that patrol is also contained in this volume.
The second Argonaut survived into the 1970s, spending her final years in Canadian service as HMCS Rainbow.”
According to the book description of
U.S.S. Cod (SS-224): American Submarine War Patrol Reports, “Now tied up on the Cleveland,
Ohio waterfront, U.S.S. Cod is the lowest numbered surviving World War II American fleet submarine. During the war, Cod made
a total of seven war patrols, operating from Australia, Hawaii and Guam. This book contains the complete text of the war patrol
reports submitted by her three wartime commanding officers, Commander James C. Dempsey, Commander James A. Adkins, and Lieutenant
Commander Edwin M. Westbrook, Jr. Also included is an Introduction and notes by popular submarine novelist and historian J.T.
McDaniel.”
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