Winner of the Foundation for 2008 Coast Guard History Book AwardThe images of soldiers and marines coming ashore on hostile shores are embedded in our collective memory of World War II. But what of the sailors who manned the landing craft, going back and forth under fire with nowhere to take cover, their craft the special targets of enemy gunners? In this book, Ken Wiley, a Coast Guardsman on an Attack Transport in the Pacific, relates the intricate, often nerve wracking story of how the United States projected its power across 6,000 miles in the teeth of fanatical Japanese resistance. Each invasion was a swirl of moving parts, from frogmen to fire support, transport mother ships to Attack Transports, the smaller Higgins boats (LCVPs), and during the last terrifying stage the courageous men who would storm the beaches. The author participated in the campaigns for the Marshall Islands, the Marianas the Philippines and Okinawa, and with a precise eye for detail relates numerous aspects of landing craft operations, such as ferrying wounded, that are often discounted. He conveys the terror and horrors of war, as well as, on occasion, the thrill, while not neglecting the humor and cameraderie of wartime life. An exciting book, full of harrowing combat action, D Days in the Pacific also provides a valuable service in expanding our knowledge of exactly how World War II's massive amphibious operations were undertaken. REVIEWS: "The author knows whereof he speaks. As a coastguard LCVP coxswain, he served in amphibious assaults from the Marshalls and Marinas, to the Philippines and Okinawa. His tale cogently imparts both fear and certain dark humor of war." - Proceedings, June 2007 "For unknown reasons, there are virtually no first person books by or about US Coast Guard coxswains in World War II. Ken Wiley corrects that oversight with LUCKY THIRTEEN, a book to be treasured." - WWII History Magazine, September 2007 "?provides a valuable service in expanding our knowledge of exactly how World War II's massive amphibious operations were undertaken." - The U.S. Coast Guard Reservist, 05/07 "?This very-well written and organized account of D-Days in the Pacific with the US Coast Guard should appeal to both scholars and the general public and should be in every library of every World War II and Coast Guard historian." - Journal of Military History, 11/2007 SELLING POINTS ? The memoir of a coast guardsman on an attack-transport ship ? Details the crucial campaigns of the Marshall Islands and Okinawa ? Explains how amphibious operations were undertaken in the Pacific War ? Published to coincide with new HBO Spielberg/Hanks series ?The Pacific? ILLUSTRATIONS 16 pages b/w photographs
