Pacific Legacy: Image and Memory from World War II in the Pacific (Forth)

Pacific Legacy tells the story of World War II in the Pacific as it was for those who were there--combining fascinating then-and-now photographs with a gripping text based on eyewitness accounts.

Original photographs by Gerald A. Meehl offer an unprecedented record of the relics of World War II that have survived on the islands of the Pacific: American landing craft rusting on the reefs where they were stopped by enemy fire; shell-pocked Japanese fortifications; fallen aircraft overgrown by jungle; packed-coral landing strips still as good as new. These evocative color images are paired with archival photographs that show the same tropical battlegrounds as they appeared in wartime.

The text covers the entire war in the Pacific, from the attack on Pearl Harbor to Japan's surrender in Tokyo Bay. The principal battles are recounted hour by hour, drawing heavily on the authors' interviews with veterans of the Pacific Theater, as well as with the Pacific Islanders whose homelands were transformed into battlegrounds. This vivid narrative helps the reader visualize what it was really like to be at war in the Pacific, doggedly island-hopping to victory.

In this second edition of Pacific Legacy, a new preface by Meehl examines recent developments in the commemoration of the Pacific war, including the ongoing search for the remains of MIAs and sunken ships.