In the 1980s-1990s, high school history teacher Matthew A. Rozell assigned a project to his students to interview WWII veterans. The accounts are from people who lived in the area surrounding Glen Falls, New York, which he calls “Hometown USA.” The results from this assignment, along with the author’s additional research, have been compiled into a book. This volume highlights “voices from the Pacific” and contains veterans’ stories from Pearl Harbor, Bataan, Midway, Corregidor, Guadalcanal, Burma, Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima, Peleliu, Okinawa, and prisoners of war in various locations.

It is told in chronological order and focuses on the experience of front-line soldiers. Two women, a nurse and an administrator, are also included. It vividly portrays the horrors of war. The primary drawback is the structure. I listened to the audio and at times it was difficult to figure out when the author was breaking into the individual veteran’s account. I am glad these personal narratives have been documented and preserved for history. I listened to it on a driving trip, and it kept my interest throughout.
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This is a good selection of accounts of soldiers, marines, and others from the pacific theater of ww2. The individual stories were moving, but there wasn’t as coherent an overall message as some other war memoirs (probably because there were so many separate stories). ( )