The Cactus Air Force Audiobook Libro.fm

Description

Bloomsbury presents The Cactus Air Force by Eric Hammel and Thomas McKelvey Cleaver read by Adam Henderson

Using diary entries interviews and firsthand accounts this vivid narrative brings to life the struggle in the air over the island of Guadalcanal between August 20 and November 15 1942

The battle of Guadalcanal was the first offensive operation undertaken by the US and its allies in the Pacific War The three months of air battles between August 20 1942 when the first Marine air unit arrived on the island and November 15 when the last enemy attempt to retake the island was defeated were perhaps the most important of the Pacific War Cactus the code name for the island became a sinkhole for Japanese air and naval power as they experienced losses that could never be made good

For 40 years the late Eric Hammel interviewed more than 150 American participants in the air campaign at Guadalcanal none of whom are still alive These interviews are the most comprehensive firstperson accounts of the battle assembled by any historian More importantly they involved the junior officers and enlisted men whose stories and memories were not part of the official history and thus provide a unique insight

In The Cactus Air Force Pacific War expert Thomas McKelvey Cleaver worked closely with Eric to build on his collection of diary entries interviews and firsthand accounts to create a vivid narrative of the struggle in the air over the island of Guadalcanal between August 20 and November 15 1942