book reviews and summaries, comments, analysis
When I was an undergraduate a guy who lived on my floor in the dorm prided himself on being able to juggle a ping pong ball, a bowling ball, and a bottle of Jack Daniels. It was exhilirating to see him wield three items--so different in weight, size, and value--so featly.
McDonald does the same. This whole book is a rolling thunder memory of (1) technical aspects of Navy life; (2) personal aspects of navy life, and (3) surprisingly valuable insights about international events from Panmunjom to Washington.
The book could have used better editing and proofreading, but that rarely gets in the way. Sometimes the editing errors are hysterical: given the gastric problems Korean food creates, referring to the Korean battle over the Punch Bowel is a classic misprint.
It is also nice to read a book of, by, and about the Navy and its personnel. 71% of the world is water!, they always reminded me at Lee's Bar in Iwakuni. Everyone knows how the US dominated the skies over Korea within a few weeks of the war. Much can be said for the waters around Korea, and alot of those sorties that swept the skies left from Navy ships or were rescued by Navy patrol boats if their sorties went against them. Life on board a ship is much less well known and understood than life on the lines. Besides relentlesss drill (more about this later), there is the very real need to adapt to living for months in small, noisy, metallic and rolling confined spaces.
Still..what should the reader do with this account of McDonalds day in combat? 19 March: 0000-0400. My last day in the war zone, steaming independently as TE 95.24 on course 280 T, pgc 266 psc at 15 knots (233 RPM), conducting patrol from Chaho to Hodo Pando, easto coast of Korea in accordance with CTG 95. Op Order 2-51 and CTE 95.24 Op Order 2-51....CTE in this vessel. 0005,c/c to 065 T pgc, 080 psc. 0155, c/c to 030 T pgc, 040 psc. 0217, took activity under fire...
Answer? enjoy it. It fits in very well with the rest of the book, standing on its own against much else that is readable in this text. So what if ya don't have the faintest idea what the fuck is really going on with all these ships. Let Mcdonald and his deck ape buddies sweat the details; you can just enjoy the rest of the text.
And there is plenty of that, too, because McDonald sweats the literary details, as well. He really adds a personal touch, talking about his life in the rail yards of buffalo; battles with Navy brass and officers over benefits, pay, time in the service, ship assignments. The book reads like a diary, even though the flashbacks mean it is not strictly in time sequence. The flashbacks and asides about military or political events add alot of dimension to the text. One minute he is fighting for his country; the next minute to save the family jewels. The appeal of the book is simply that McDonald has an interesting story to tell.
The political analysis and italic 'bulletins from Panmunjom' provide the most color and controversy in the text. In Trieste, McDonald toes the anti-communist Truman line more than say, Hackworth does. McDonald is correct that Forrestal and Johnson gutted the Navy; but does he really believe that an additional aircraft carries could have saved task force Smith?
His broader brush is more plausible: he makes a good case for why China lumped America with her colonial european oppressors (much as the middle east lumps us with British, French and Russian colonialism). And he is spot on when he points out that the struggle over repatriation prolonged the war for 18 months. I might point out that McDonalds' observations show you just how much education was crammed into a High School degree back in those days.
All in all a good book.