|
Captain Wilbur D. Jones Jr., USN (ret.)
is a “nationally known author and military historian in Wilmington, N. C., doing business as Wilbur Jones Compositions,
L.L.C. A University of North Carolina history graduate, retired navy captain, and former assistant and advance representative
to President Ford, he served the Department of Defense for nearly 41 years, the last 12 as a professor and associate dean
at the Defense Acquisition University.”
Captain Wilbur D. Jones Jr. is
the author of The Journey Continues: The World War II Home Front; A Sentimental Journey: Memoirs of a Wartime
Boomtown; Arming the Eagle: A History of U.S. Weapons Acquisition Since 1775; Gyrene: The World War II United States Marine;
and, Giants in the Cornfield: The 27th Indiana Infantry. Captain Wilbur D. Jones Jr. is also a co-author of
Condemned to Live: A Panzer Artilleryman’s Five-Front War; Hawaii Goes to War: The Aftermath of Pearl Harbor;
and, Forget That You Have Been Hitler Soldiers: A Youth’s Service to the Reich.
According to the book description
of A Sentimental Journey: Memoirs of a Wartime Boomtown, “The New Hanover County city of Wilmington
-- the social, cultural, manufacturing, economic, and population hub of Southeastern North Carolina -- was a mighty contributor
to the war effort in World War II. For numerous reasons it was the country's most unique wartime boomtown. Each military
service was stationed there, the shipyard mass-produced 243 cargo vessels, the port was a shipping point for vital war materials,
defense industries operated at capacity, and thousands of sons and daughters left to fight the enemy. One hundred ninety-one
county boys did not return. Strategically located on the east coast, it endured continuous civilian defense alerts, U-boats
offshore, and the threat of German attack. The magnitude of the area's diverse activities and complete absorption, rise, and fall were unequaled by any
American city. How it managed the social, civic, jurisdictional, and governmental complexities during its economic boom is
a compelling and scintillating subject closely portrayed here through firsthand accounts. A Sentimental Journey has vast national
appeal to readers interested in WWII, the home front, and American cultural history.”
According to the book description of Condemned to Live: A Panzer Artilleryman’s
Five-Front War, it “is an exceptionally explicit contribution to understanding the German common soldier
of World War II, the private soldat. This gripping memoir of Franz A. P. Frisch, written with Wilbur D. Jones, Jr., portrays
the nine-year life, culture and travails of a Panzer artilleryman who fought on five European fronts, and remained a private
in rank. The book features 140 unpublished
remarkably candid photographs taken by Frisch with a Kodak box camera on campaign as a motorized soldier with the advancing
Panzer columns. The photographs display the war's devastation and death, but most striking are the images of people: camp
life, friends, enemies, and refugees. Frisch, a retired Ph.D. with the U.S. Department of Defense fought in the invasions
of Poland, France, and the Soviet Union, and the defense of Sicily and Italy. In Match 1945 he became an American POW for
two years.
The narrative eschews Hitler's
grand strategies, field marshals, and Panzer tactics, all beyond his control, but instead includes extensive remembrances
of a soldier's small and volatile world, conforming to his level of authority and competence, viewpoint, and informality.
His U.S. counterpart was immortalized as “G.I. Joe.”
According to the book description
of The Journey Continues: The World War II Home Front, it “extends the human interest story
started in the acclaimed A Sentimental Journey: Memoirs of a Wartime Boomtown, including more cultural anecdotes, love stories,
and the social scene, and numerous detailed accounts of area men in combat and those killed in action. For numerous reasons,
America’s unique World War II wartime boomtown was Wilmington, the population, economic, social, and cultural hub of
southeastern North Carolina. The area, officially called "The Defense Capital of the State," contributed mightily
to the national war effort. This area of North Carolina accommodated each military service, a shipyard mass-producing 243 cargo vessels,
the state port, defense industries operating at capacity, and German prisoner of war camps. Two hundred Wilmington high school
graduates received the Medal of Honor. Thousands of citizens fought on every global battlefield; 191 New Hanover County boys
died. Strategically located, the area endured constant civilian defense alerts and restrictions, U-boats marauding offshore,
and until 1944, the threat of German attack.
The county’s pre-war population
of 43,000 swelled to around 100,000 with the influx of servicemen and war workers. Even as the casualty lists grew, entertainment
and night life sometimes proceeded as usual. Romance ruled. Prostitution flourished. For many young men and women, the war
was the most exciting time of their lives. The area’s diverse activities, complete absorption, and rise and fall likely
were unequaled by any American city. How Wilmington managed the social, civic, jurisdictional, business, racial, and governmental
complexities during its economic heyday is portrayed through hundreds of firsthand accounts and the daily newspaper.”
According to the book description of
Gyrene: The World War II United States Marine, “The persona and character of the World War
II Marine vividly come alive in Gyrene. The book interprets and analyzes the Marine's personal and cultural history, the
pleasant and unpleasant, serious and not so, and the ordinary and exceptional. It is about men doing their duty and nothing
else.”
According to the book description of
Hawaii Goes to War: The Aftermath of Pearl Harbor, “for six months following the December
7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii rearmed and awaited the inevitable. Patricia O'Meara Robbins, a professional photographer,
documented everyday life as the shocked Oahu community recovered from one attack and prepared for another. In Hawaii Goes
to War, the Joneses skillfully interweave Carroll's childhood remembrances and her mother's photographs with the history
of the fleet salvage operations that enabled the navy to take on the Japanese armed forces. They follow the war from Pearl
Harbor to the battles of the Coral Sea that led up to the triumph of Midway.”
|
