Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War

The author begins by quoting Churchill: " War, which was cruel and glorious, has become cruel and sordid. "

Here's an instance of what The Marines were told before hitting a beach:

" Saipan is covered with dense jungles, quicksand, steep hills and cliffs hiding batteries of huge coastal guns and strongholds of reinforced concrete. Insects bear lethal poisons. Crocodiles and snakes infest the streams. The waters around it are thick with sharks. The population will be hostile to us."
There was a long silence. Then a corporal said, " Sarge, why don't we just let the Japs keep it? "

Welcome to the world of young William Manchester.

Then, nearly 30 years after WW2 ended, Manchester starts a pilgrimage through the islands in The Pacific where he also fought as a sargeant, leading " The Raggedy Ass Marines". A group of oddballs, most of them in college when the war broke out.

His purpose? To pay respect to them and and to exorcise his demons.

As he prays when revisiting Sugar Loaf Hill in Okinawa:
" Sacred heart of the crucified Jesus, take away this murdering rage- "


Goodbye Darkness is an outstanding narrative, with an unbelievable but true cast of characters: MacArthur, an egomaniac who blundered and let his air force be destroyed on the ground-- 9 hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor--then proved to be the greatest military genius, inflicting casualties on a fanatical and well-trained enemy at a ratio of 30 to one throughout the rest of the war.
Unparalleled in history.

Jacob Vouza, native of Guadalcanal who, prior to Pearl Harbor had never heard of Japan or The United States. Joining the fight he volunteers to engage in reconnaissance against the Japanese invaders. He was captured, but he wouldn't break. So they tied him to a tree, bayoneted him in the chest and throat seven times and left him for dead. Vouza bit through the ropes, and crawled three miles back to the American lines on hands and knees. He refused medical treatment until he reported all he had seen. He survived and was made Sgt.Major in the USMC and awarded a silver star.


By far the most interesting witness is Manchester himself, who went through hell from Guadalcanal to Okinawa where he finally got his 'million dollar wound.' He was taken to the rear. Then in the hospital he learns that there's going to be an amphibious assault. behind Japanese lines. So he gets up from his bunk, goes AWOL, and rejoins what's left of The Raggedy Ass Marines for an assault which sounds like certain death.

If you've ever read any first rate account of war, you won't be surprised at his reason for doing so:

" It was an act of love. Those men on the hill were my family . . .Men, I now know, do not fight for flag and country . . .they fight for one another. Any man in combat who lacks comrades who will die for him, or for whom he is willing to die . . .is truly damned. "

A great read.

A must read for people that want to understand the drama and trauma of war, and hear a first hand account from a great author about a major part of our history.

War is an extremely brutal thing, yet there must be something beautiful within it, for it happens too often to be otherwise. William Manchester was in the United States Marine Corps in World War II and island-hopped across the Pacific until he arrived on Okinawa. It is astonishing that he lived through it, some of the Corps units suffered over 70% casualty rates in the wars of attrition that were Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Yet, the Marines accomplished all of their objectives, which is the most powerful definition of dedication and determination in service to their country.
Manchester's skill in describing his experience is engrossing without being gross, even as he describes the horrific aftermath of some of the battles. He is also honest about his being so scared that his sphincters failed. He opens the book with his killing of a Japanese sniper at close range and through his words you learn where so much of bravery arises. It happens when a scared man understands that circumstances have dealt him a poor hand and his only real choice is to aggressively play it. At that point, fear vanishes and the world takes on a clarity that may never recur.
This is not a book about the general strategy of the U. S. in World War II; most of the strategy described is about moving the next few feet. However, if you want to learn how the United States defeated Japan in World War II, then this is where you will find the answers. The victory was won by men like Manchester, that watched men that were often their friends, being killed. Yet they rarely wavered and continued to move forward and defeated their equally determined enemy. If beauty can be found in war, it is the loyalty and love that these men had for each other and the cause they fought for.

For those interested in this genre, this book is a must read and will be one you don't want to put down. As graphic an insight into the extreme trials and few tribulations of the US Marines during the many bloody battles of Pacific Theatre of WW2 as you are likely to get and with some equally good insight into the history/topography of the many locations where these battles took place.

Labeling this book as a memoir is a bit misleading. It is more an old man's travelogue as William Manchester visits WWII battlegrounds in order to come to terms with his experiences as a combat Marine in the Pacific War. There is a lot of description of these sites as they appeared at the time of writing and quite a bit about the local lifestyle. Some of this is interesting and all of it is well-written, but it is not what brought me to the book in the first place.

Manchester's accounts of life on the front lines and the many battles he was in are the strong point of this book. This is five star material, very harrowing, graphic, and insightful. He also comes across as quite honest, since he often portrays himself in an unflattering light. The sections about his upbringing and other non-military experiences are much less successful; he often seems to strain for effect, trying to emphasize the universal significance of his life experiences.

My biggest problem with the book--and it proved to be a constant annoyance throughout the narrative--was the disrespectful way he referred to the Japanese. He is honest enough to admit that he has never gotten over his antipathy toward them, and I can understand that. I can even accept the use of derogatory terms when he is writing "in the moment" about combat, replicating his state of mind at that time. However, there are many extended passages in which Manchester writes about the war from the perspective of a historian, and even these supposedly objective sections are liberally sprinkled with terms like "Nip" and "Jap." Again, I appreciate Manchester's honesty about his dislike of the Japanese. Unfortunately, he seems to be incapable of seeing this as a flaw in himself, something to be resisted and not inflicted upon others