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A book by Charles Jones is finally available and features the story of how military photographers got their shots while storming beaches and assaulting pillboxes with combat troops. It also describes how long time member Norm Hatch filmed With the Marines at Tarawa, which won the 1944 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject and was Person of the Week on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer in March 2010. There are new details on the controversy surrounding the famous photo of the flag raising on Iwo Jima. It should interest the fans of “Flags of Our Fathers,” “Letters from Iwo Jima,” and HBO’s “The Pacific”

Some of our members have already placed reviews on Amazon.com about the book:

HERO OF THE PACIFIC: The Life of Marine Legend John Basilone.
By James Brady. Published by John Wiley & Sons Inc. 272 pages.
Stock #0470379413. $23.36 MCA Members. $25.95 Regular Price.

We knew from conversations just prior to his sudden death in January 2009 that Parade Magazine’s James Brady was working on a book covering the life of the legendary Marine, “Manila John” Basilone. What we did not know was how Brady would approach his subject. Brady followers, me among them, thought he would fictionalize Marine history as he did in various novels, including “Marine,” “Warning of War” and “The Marines of Autumn.”
What we have in “Hero of the Pacific” is more akin to Brady’s “Why Marines Fight,” only with a sharper eye on the actual fiction that surrounded this Marine hero. Brady had this sharper eye. After all, as a decorated Marine platoon leader who fought in the cold of the second Korean winter, he had some insight as to what an infantry platoon and, more importantly, what a machine-gun section could and should do. As a veteran newsman, he also knew how to “mine” a story.

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By special arrangement with the Naval Institute, we will get 100 of the books prior to official release and they will be on sale at a special price of $20 each at our annual conference in Hampton, VA this month. When released to the public the price will be $26.95. Keith will be available for a book signing; his royalties for all conference sales have been designated for the USMCCCA.

By Jack Paxton, Executive Director, USMCCCA

We don’t normally do book reviews even though we read constantly. We do write letters to the editor when provoked and stories on our favorite space-a flying trips for Leatherneck from time to time. Keith Oliver’s just-out “Command Attention” is a whole different matter, however.

Having served 20 years in Marine Corps public affairs, the first 16 enlisted, the last four as a PAO. I have said many times that the first 12 were a struggle, including the early days as a CC in Korea. My teachers were a mix of World War II vets and scribes from newspapers. Some good. Some bad. Until I worked for the late Bob Morrisey in the early 1960s, I had no idea what public affairs really meant.

When I started reading Keith’s “mighty-mite” two nights ago I could have sworn I was back in Mo’s office at Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii. This 129-page tome mirrors many of the things Mo espoused. Why not? Keith freely admits that we had the same great mentor who became the first “PA rabbi” for a Marine Commandant.

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