Dispatches from the Pacific: The World War II Reporting of Robert L. Sherrod

In the fall of 1943, armed with only his notebooks and pencils, Time and Life correspondent Robert L. Sherrod leapt from the safety of a landing craft and waded through neck-deep water and a hail of bullets to reach the shores of the Tarawa Atoll with the US Marine Corps. Living shoulder to shoulder with the marines, Sherrod chronicled combat and the marines' day-to-day struggles as they leapfrogged across the Central Pacific, battling the Japanese on Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. While the marines courageously and doggedly confronted an enemy that at times seemed invincible, those left behind on the American home front desperately scanned Sherrod's columns for news of their loved ones. Following his death in 1994, the Washington Post heralded Sherrod's reporting as "some of the most vivid accounts of men at war ever produced by an American journalist." Now, for the first time, author Ray E. Boomhower tells the story of the journalist in Dispatches from the Pacific: The World War II Reporting of Robert L. Sherrod, an intimate account of the war efforts on the Pacific front.

Table of Contents:
Preface 1. The War Correspondent 2. Learning the Trade 3. Somewhere in Australia 4. War in the Fog and Atolls: The Aleutians and Beyond 5. Betio: Red Beach 2 6. Saipan: Smith versus Smith 7. Uncommon Valor: Iwo Jima and the Flag Raising 8. Okinawa: The Final Battle 9. "Taps" Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Ray E. Boomhower has written books on the lives of Ernie Pyle, Lew Wallace, Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, May Wright Sewall, and John Bartlow Martin. He is Senior Editor at the Indiana Historical Society Press and 2010 winner of the Regional Award in the annual Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Awards.

Review :
Author Ray Boomhower gives us a fascinating look inside the life of a wartime correspondent and man whose insatiable curiosity brought him to the front lines of some of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific War. . . Boomhower does an excellent job building Sherrod's growing interest in covering the war from the heart of the battle. (WW2 Reads) Biographer Ray E. Boomhower's Dispatches from the Pacific: The World War II Reporting of Robert L. Sherrod is a compelling read about a reporter whose dedication, drive, and personal bravery brought the war home. (World War II Magazine) "Dispatches from the Pacific is a gripping biography of a talented WWII reporter who left an incredible impact on the world of journalism. It is a perfect read for history buffs and those with an interest in journalism." (IDS) "Biographer Ray E. Boomhower's Dispatches from the Pacific: The World War II Reporting of Robert L. Sherrod is a compelling read about a reporter whose dedication, drive, and personal bravery brought the war home." (HistoryNet) "Dispatches from the Pacific will stick in the minds of its readers and compel them to reflect carefully upon and share with others its distressing insights into the costs exacted from the men and women that American citizens send off to fight their wars." (Michigan War Studies Review) The contribution this book makes to the Pacific War historiography is well timed. While the First World War has now become separated by the centenary milestone, the Second World War is still intrinsically linked with the American public. Veterans are still with us and that is why Boomhower needs to be read. (JHistory)