Operation: Nebraska Author- All the Gallant Men

My third choice for Operation: Nebraska Author is actually my first recommended book since starting this project. It came via text from my dad:

"Must say, quite the experience. If you get a chance to read it, I would sure like to discuss the book with you. The impact on his life, the life-long scars both physical and mental, the desire to tell the story and people not forget. The arousal of a sleeping giant after being sucker punched. The information that was not acted on, the collision that changed the timeline, new facts I learned. Great read!"

I agree with his assessment, wholeheartedly.

Helpful hint: Read with tissues handy.

All the Gallant Men is the memoir of Donald Stratton, a man who fled the Great Depression that had taken hold of his hometown (and the rest of the country) of Red Coud, NE and found his way into the Navy in 1940. It was quite an adventure for a small-town farm kid from Nebraska who had never ventured far from home.

After training in Illinois, Stratton and his shipmates rode the train all the way to Washington where they caught their sight of their new home, the USS Arizona (BB-39). They would take the 608 foot long, 97 food wide, 33,000 ton heavy battleship (the Arizona and the Pennsylvania were the largest battleships in the Navy) to their new berth at Pearl Harbor to train for the war on the horizon.

WWII, Pearl Harbor, and the Arizona.

You would be hard pressed to find anybody who doesn't know the significance of those three things.

I'll admit, it took me a couple of days to start reading the chapter titled December 7th because I knew the horror that awaited me.

Stratton had been one of the lucky ones who was on deck when the Japanese Zeros first attacked. He quickly made it to his battle station in the port antiaircraft director so his team could return fire.

They ran into two problems: if they fired on the Zeros that were wreaking havoc on the fleet, they risked hitting other American ships in the harbor and personnel on Ford Island and they couldn't reach the high-altitude bombers that were flying high above the chaos. They did what they could "throw[ing] our shells into the sky, as many as we could, hoping the shrapnel might shatter a cockpit, rupture a fuel line, clip a propeller, It's all we could do. Shoot and hope."

Stratton was still in the turret when a 1760 lb armor-piercing bomb fell, penetrating four decks and exploding in the ammunition magazine. It was this blow that ended the Arizona.

Stratton fled the turret, looking for any escape possible. He and his crew mates now had another threat to deal with: fire.

Badly burned, Stratton and five of his mates found sanctuary on the Vestal, a repair ship that had been moored to the Arizona. As soon as they boarded, the Vestal pulled away and headed for safety.

Stratton was one of the lucky ones, but his battle wasn't over. He had been burned on over 65% of his body and months of painful healing was ahead of him.

Stratton's time in WWII didn't end with his injuries at Pearl Harbor. After a medical discharge and a year back in Red Cloud, he reenlisted. He needed to do it for his mates who didn't leave Pearl Harbor.

Stratton returned to the Pacific, even having an emotional return to Pearl Harbor, his first time seeing the Arizona after the Vestal pulled away, but not his last. He fought in some of the most intense and bloodiest naval battles the world has ever seen.

He is one of the few men to have been at both Pearl Harbor and Okinawa. He saw the first shots and the final battle of America's time in WWII.

Now, I have spent most of this review talking about Stratton, and that doesn't really convey the spirit of the book. It is called All the Gallant Men and it struck me in reading it, that Stratton doesn't seem to count himself among the "gallant." He spends much of the book praising those he thought went above and beyond, those unsung heroes, and those who never made it home.

The amount of reverence he uses when he talked about the band of the Arizona (all 21 were lost when the magazine exploded) brought me to tears many times.

All of the tears.

The respect and awe he showed when talking about Joe George, a fighter and trouble-making sailor from the Vestal who not only disregarded a direct order, but fought furiously with a higher-ranking officer while doing it. It was Joe George who threw the rope over to the Arizona which was used by Stratton and five of his mates to cross from certain death on the Arizona to the uncertain safety of the Vestal. George saved their lives, against direct orders.

The respect for the nurses and doctors who worked furiously to save the lives of all caught in the attack along with the warm feelings for the doctors and nurses in California who helped Stratton in his healing.

Most of all, his respect and love, sadness and anger for all of his friends and mates that were killed at Pearl Harbor and throughout the rest of the war.

All were gallant.

All the Gallant Men is definitely one of the best books I have ever read. I don't know if it was the style, the subject matter, the story itself, or a combination of the three, but it is well worth a read.

Donald Stratton currently lives with his wife Velma in Colorado Springs and has been able to attend all of the reunions at Pearl Harbor, his last one being the 75th Anniversary in December, 2016. He was there with the other last four Arizona survivors.

Ken Gire is an author of religious books who found his way to Stratton after his daughter heard about Stratton on the radio. There are few-if any- memoirs written by survivors of the Arizona and Gire knew he had to get Stratton's story down before it was too late.

Other books by Gire:

Moments with the Savior
Windows of the Soul: Experiencing God in New Ways
The Centurion
Answering the Call: The Doctor who Made Africa his Life
The North Face of God

and many more