Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Marie Arendt
Categories
Politics & government

FIFTY-THREE DAYS ON STARVATION ISLAND

John Bruning

The World War II Battle That Saved Marine Corps Aviation

The pivotal true story of the first fifty-three days of the standoff between Imperial Japanese and a handful of Marine aviators defending the Americans dug in at Guadalcanal, from the New York Times bestselling author of Indestructible and Race of Aces.

On August 20, 1942, twelve Marine dive-bombers and nineteen Marine fighters landed at Guadalcanal. Their mission: defeat the Japanese navy and prevent it from sending more men and supplies to "Starvation Island," as Guadalcanal was nicknamed. The Japanese were turning the remote, jungle-covered mountain in the south Solomon Islands into an air base from which they could attack the supply lines between the U.S. and Australia. The night after the Marines landed and captured the partially completed airfield, the Imperial Navy launched a surprise night attack on the Allied fleet offshore, resulting in the worst defeat the U.S. Navy suffered in the 20th century, which prompted the abandonment of the Marines on Guadalcanal. The Marines dug in, and waited for help, as those thirty-one pilots and twelve gunners flew against the Japanese, shooting down eighty-three planes in less than two months, while the dive bombers, carried out over thirty attacks on the Japanese fleet. Fifty-Three Days on Starvation Island follows Major John L. Smith, a magnetic leader who became America's top fighter ace for the time; Captain Marion Carl, the Marine Corps' first ace, and one of the few survivors of his squadron at the Battle of Midway. He would be shot down and forced to make his way back to base through twenty-five miles of Japanese-held jungle. And Major Richard Mangrum, the lawyer-turned-dive-bomber commander whose inexperienced men wrought havoc on the Japanese Navy. New York Times bestselling author John R. Bruning depicts the desperate effort to stop the Japanese long enough for America to muster reinforcements and turn the tide at Guadalcanal. Not just the story of an incredible stand on a distant jungle island, Fifty-Three Days on Starvation Island also explores the consequences of victory to the men who secured it at a time when America had been at war for less than a year and its public had yet to fully understand what that meant. The home front they returned to after their jungle ordeal was a surreal montage of football games, nightclubs, fine dining with America's elites, and inside looks at dysfunctional defense industries more interested in fleecing the government than properly equipping the military. Bruning tells the story of how one battle reshaped the Marine Corps and propelled its veterans into the highest positions of power just in time to lead the service into a new war in Southeast Asia. John R. Bruning is the author or collaborating writer of the national bestseller Indestructible, as well as Outlaw Platoon written with Sean Parnell, Shadow of the Sword with Jeremiah Workman, How to Break a Terrorist with Matthew Alexander, House to House with David Bellavia, The Devil's Sandbox, and Ghost: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent with Fred Burton. Bruning is well traveled as an embedded combat correspondent. For his reporting in Afghanistan, the Department of Defense presented him with the Thomas Jefferson Award in 2010. For his work with the Oregon National Guard, he was inducted into the 162nd Infantry Regiment in September 2011 as an honorary member. John lives in Independence, Oregon, and has two children.

Available products
Book Published 2024-05-14 by Hachette Book Group - New York (USA)

Comments

This [is an] exhilarating account. Adding depth to the white-knuckle heroics is Bruning's detailed depiction of the aftermath for these three officers. WWII history buffs will be engrossed.

In Fifty Three Days on Starvation Island, author John R. Bruning has crafted a masterful thriller set in the malarial jungles and heavens over Guadalcanal, as a daring band of Marine Corps aviators fought to block the Japanese advance in the fateful early days of World War II. In Bruning's talented hands, readers will feel the terror of aerial combat, endure the heat and depravity of combat in the sultry tropics, and suffer the pain of losing friends and fellow aviators. This is a story of brotherhood, bravery, and the against-all-odds heroism that America so desperately needed as the nation fought to turn the tide of the war. I couldn't put it down.

Intricate and loaded with lush detail, John Bruning's novel-like narrative non-fiction puts you behind the stick of an F4F Wildcat battling Zeros or in a mosquito-infested, muddy foxhole on Guadalcanal. Page-turning and gripping, Bruning not only honors the men he writes about but offers a fresh look at the earliest and most perilous days on Guadalcanal. Starvation Island is an outstanding addition to the history of the war in the Pacific.

An extraordinary untold story of young men - new to combat and stranded on remote Pacific islands - testing the limits of human endurance to survive, save their brothers-in-arms, and hold the line against Imperial Japan. You will be inspired by their courage, grateful for their sacrifice, heartbroken by the trauma they carried with them, and once you read their story you will never forget.

Intricately researched but intimately written, Fifty-Three Days on Starvation Island takes us into the cockpits and muddy foxholes of the aviators that fought the Japanese in the skies over Guadalcanal. Bruning writes like the best war reporters of that generation, delivering a gripping personal account of survival during the very darkest period of World War II.

Fifty-Three Days on Starvation Island is a thrilling, beautifully researched account of American flyboys changing history at a pivotal time in WWII. Top guns who truly made a difference. Don't miss this one!

In Fifty-Three Days on Starvation Island, John R. Bruning has marshaled his formidable skills as a military historian in a labor of love about the legendary Marine aviators who slowed the Japanese military juggernaut at Guadalcanal in 1942. Bruning's pages crackle with acts of extraordinary valor, harrowing close calls, and bold blows struck against a skilled and determined enemy. Again and again, we're reminded of the decisive role that Marine heroes like Marion E. Carl, Dick Mangrum, and John L. Smith played at Guadalcanal as the outcome of World War II hung in the balance. Twenty-two of these aviators gave their lives in the fight. Bruning's Fifty-Three Days on Starvation Island is a soaring memorial to their sacrifice.

Highly detailed. this expert history. examines a heroic element that has received less attention. This a lucidly written.account of the Guadalcanal air campaign. undoubtedly entertaining. Heroism was abundant at Guadalcanal, but these fliers stand out, and Bruning captures the action well.