General MacArthur arrived at Atusgi Air Base on the 30th of August, the strangest month in the strangest year in human affairs to that date. I used to stay at Atsugi periodically and marveled at the revetments of old gray concrete that protected Saburo Sakai’s Zero fighters still ring the ends of the field.   […]

(Lehigh University graphic on the history wars)   I said that everyone who saw it who had a dad that would have been there for the apocalypse would have disagreed with him.   “They started too soon,” said Mac. “Too many of use were still alive who remember. They had to change the story board […]

(IJN Yamato, dead in the water and damaged. USN Photo)   “April Fools Day. We found Yamato on the sixth, and sank her the next day. The Japs lost over 107,000 military and civilian on land and 4,000 sailors at sea. It cost us almost seven thousand soldiers and another five thousand sailors to the […]

Mac took a sip of his Virgin Mary and scowled. “I think there are only two olie in this one. He peered into the dense red of glass before him, his blue eyes squinting behind his silver-framed glasses.   At precisely 5:15 pm, Peter dialed down the lighting in the Willow bar to increase the […]

(313th Bomb Wing aircraft drops aerial mines, March 1945. Air Corps Picture) I nodded as Mac told me of the revolting matter of Pear Pie, made out of the grainy fruit contained in sugary syrup in gigantic cans and crushed crackers as a revolting crust.   I was having the neighborhood bar menu Spring Rolls […]

  I took a sip of chardonnay. Peter was pouring a very nice vintage, a hint of fruit but dry, without anything that seemed syrupy like canned pears.   I looked over at the Admiral in wonder. He had just described the entire intelligence staff that went forward with Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz. Captain Eddie […]

(A bad pie.)    “So what was it like going forward?” I asked the Admiral. “Leaving Hawaii must have been a change.”   “Well, yes it was, but Admiral Nimitz wanted to lead from the front. I got Eddie Layton, the Fleet Intelligence Officer, to let me pick the four best analysts at JICPOA and […]

(SeaBees put the fields up fast. A company street at Isley Field, 1944. Air Force Photo.)   Mac told me that they arrived on Guam in January 1945. Hal McCullough had been flying high-altitude missions against Toyko for weeks, and Bill McCullough was de-arming the Super Forts as they returned, and servicing the automatic gun […]

(Jasper Holmes. Image: Naval Security Group via U.S. Submarine Veterans.) He was called back to active service as tensions rose in the Pacific. His natural aptitude brought him to FRUPAC and the Estimates Section, where his experience as a line officer would be best used to interpret what the code-breakers were producing. The alliance between […]

(Cocktail napkin note from intense discussion with the Admiral. Photo Socotra)   I don’t think Lizzie or Meghan knew the details about the spy swap. Didn’t matter; I was not privy to the nitty-gritty either, and certainly the Admiral didn’t know. He was just back from the Outer Banks and a week with his family […]