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Title |
Tarawa: The Story of a Battle |
Author |
Robert Sherrod |
Summary |
"Tarawa: The Story of a Battle" by Robert Sherrod, 1944. A first-person account of Marines battling in the Central Pacific during World War II. Sherrod was the editor of the Saturday Evening Post, a correspondent for Time Magazine, the author of several military histories of World War II, and a Thomasville native. From the dust cover: "This is a book which is not simply about a battle; this book is battle itself. It is unquestionably one of the most stirring books of the war as well as the best-covered battle story of the war because Robert Sherrod lived through every minute of it. Sherrod was in the Aleutians when the decision was made to open a new theatre of war: the Central Pacific. He tells of his trip on a battleship to the rendezvous point in the South Pacific where the tremendous Naval force met the Marines who had come up from New Zealand. He tells the history and sets the background for the battle. Then with an almost incredible immediacy he tells of the attack itself. He tells what it felt like to wade through 700 yards of machine gun fire with men dropping all around; what men say under two days of unrelenting fire; how it feels to lean against a four-foot sea-wall and watch 300 men killed as they wade ashore. He tells the story of Lt. William D. Hawkins of El Paso, Texas, who came as near to winning a battle single-handed as any first lieutenant ever did, by the very inspiration his fearlessness instilled. It was the best conducted operation of the war. And it was won by sheer courage. THe name of Robert Sherrod, first of Time, Inc.'s correspondents to be sent overseas to cover our forces in this war, has already become identified with some of the greatest reporting of the war. This is his first book and it will not soon be forgotten." Tarawa was a wartime publication and "produced in full compliance with the government's regulations for conserving paper and other essential materials." |
Object Name |
Book |
Catalog Number |
2011.001.0002 |
Published Date |
1944 |