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All the Gallant Men: An American Sailor's Firsthand Account of Pearl Harbor
All the Gallant Men: An American Sailor's Firsthand Account of Pearl Harbor | Ken Gire, Donald Stratton
19 posts | 12 read | 21 to read
THE FIRST MEMOIR BY A USS ARIZONA SURVIVOR: Donald Stratton, one of the battleship's five living heroes, delivers a "powerful"and "intimate"* eyewitnessaccountof Pearl Harborandhisunforgettable return to the fightAt 8:06 a.m. on December 7, 1941, Seaman First Class Donald Stratton was consumed by an inferno. A million pounds of explosives had detonated beneath his battle station aboard the USS Arizona, barely fifteen minutes into Japan s surprise attack on American forces at Pearl Harbor. Near death and burned across two thirds of his body, Don, a nineteen-year-old Nebraskan who had been steeled by the Great Depression and Dust Bowl, summoned the will to haul himself hand over hand across a rope tethered to a neighboring vessel. Forty-five feet below, the harbor s flaming, oil-slick water boiled with enemy bullets; all around him the world tore itself apart. In this extraordinary never-before-told eyewitness account of the Pearl Harbor attack the only memoir ever written by a survivor of theUSS Arizona ninety-four-year-old veteran Donald Stratton finally shares his unforgettable personal tale of bravery and survival on December 7, 1941, his harrowing recovery, and his inspiring determination to return to the fight. Don and four other sailors made it safely across the same line that morning, a small miracle on a day that claimed the lives of 1,177 of their Arizona shipmates approximately half the American fatalaties at Pearl Harbor. Sent to military hospitals for a year, Don refused doctors advice to amputate his limbs and battled to relearn how to walk. The U.S. Navy gave him a medical discharge, believing he would never again be fit for service, but Don had unfinished business. In June 1944, he sailed back into the teeth of the Pacific War on a destroyer, destined for combat in the crucial battles of Leyte Gulf, Luzon, and Okinawa, thus earning the distinction of having been present for the opening shots and the final major battle of America s Second World War.As the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack approaches, Don, a great-grandfather of five and one offive living survivors of the Arizona, offers an unprecedentedly intimate reflection on the tragedy that drew America into the greatest armed conflict in history. All the Gallant Men is a book for the ages, one of the most remarkable and remarkably inspiring memoirs of any kind to appear in recent years.*Library Journal"
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KristiAhlers
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Pickpick

I found this to be a very good accounting of the historical even of Pearl Harbor. I‘ve visited personally the Arizona memorial and it was interesting to read an accounting of events by someone who lived through it.

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TheSpineView
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TheKidUpstairs 💛💛💛 4y
48 likes1 comment
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looking_for_mikaela
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Pickpick

Written by true American hero about the Heroes of the USS ARIZONA. For Memorial Day, forget not those that never stopped wearing the uniform 🇺🇸

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BookmarkTavern
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Mehso-so

#recentnonfictionread An interesting and important read for my book club, but I was a bit disappointed. 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑

In the beginning, he takes great care to explain that the statistics of Pearl Harbor are more than that. He provides names and stories of some of the men who died. But when we get to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it's just statistics. I needed a story about someone lost that day. Just one. #marchintoreading @RealLifeReading

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K.Wielechowski
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Pickpick

Hands down one of the best books I have ever read! Told from Donald Stratton's point of view, the reader is taken from Depression-era Nebraska to Pearl Harbor to the shores of Japan. What struck me was it was not a tale of daring deeds done by Stratton, but a tale of everybody he saw who went above and beyond. The book is a celebration of them. Hint: Read with a box of tissues.
#OperationNebraskaAuthor

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K.Wielechowski
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I was a sobbing mess when I read this in the break room at work today. Gotta love a good book.
#OperationNebraskaAuthor

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K.Wielechowski
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"Such is the way to the stars."
Brought me to tears when I read it and I'm tearing up now just thinking about it.
#OperationNebraskaAuthor

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booklover76
Pickpick

My first must read book of 2017. A harrowing account of a WWII survivor. I was intrigued from the first sentence until the last.

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booklover76
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Still relevant today.

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MemoirsForMe
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Pickpick

Looking for a book about war for #readharder? I highly recommend this one, but get your Kleenex ready. It's heavy on the heart. 94-yr-old author is 1 of 5 surviving crewmen of the USS Arizona-the battleship that went down at Pearl Harbor. It's a raw firsthand look at this horrific event, the harrowing rescue + inspiring backstory, including Stratton's heartfelt trips back to the Memorial in HI to honor his shipmates. A life-changing read. #LetterS

EllieDottie I hear it's an amazing read! I got it for my bf for Christmas and he loved it! 8y
MemoirsForMe @EllieDottie You may need to borrow it back. It's that good. 🤓👍🏻 8y
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K.Wielechowski
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"Sometimes a person forgets things like that, especially being an ocean away from what you know is the right way to live a life." -Donald Sutton with Ken Gire
#OperationNebraskaAuthor

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WW2Reads
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Pickpick

A sobering, enlightening read from one of the last few survivors of the Arizona that was bombed the morning of December 7, 1941. Told in a easily readable way, even when it veers into the chronological review of the events, it's an important and timely remembrance of those young men who gave the ultimate sacrifice 75 years ago. Definitely a top #WW2 book of 2016. #History #75thAnniversary #PearlHarbor

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Knittingjoyce
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Pickpick

Thank you for your service, sir. A must read.

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WW2Reads
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How prostitutes helped the men wounded in the midst of the chaos at #PearlHarbor. I never knew this! #WW2 #WWII

cameron172 It's really sad knowing what the Japanese did and how nice the women were because they donated their blood 7y
15 likes1 comment
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WW2Reads
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This is a fantastic book so far. Very fast-paced and fascinating storytelling from a USS Arizona survivor from Pearl Harbor. Also an important read as we just remembered the 75th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor a few weeks back. #WW2 #History #75thAnniversary

MrBook Awesome!!!! 8y
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DogMomIrene
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This memorial for the USS Arizona is beautiful. I love the patriotic winter flowers that surround all of the medallions.

LazyLibrary It is beautiful! 🇺🇸 8y
23 likes1 comment
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DogMomIrene
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Spending some time at USS Arizona Memorial on UA Mall before the Prologue of Books begins for #TucsonFestivalofBooks. This medallion memorializes the youngest enlisted man, I think, aboard the USS Arizona.

Megabooks 💔💔 8y
18 likes1 comment
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WilliamMorrowBooks
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Pickpick

Our Staff Pick Sunday is from Exec Editor, Peter!

94-year-old Don Stratton has survived the Depression; the explosion of his ship, the USS Arizona, during the attack on at Pearl Harbor; then a grueling year-long recovery from 3rd-degree burns … only to reenlist in the Navy in early 1944 and serve on a destroyer in the Pacific. ALL THE GALLANT MEN is the first memoir by an Arizona survivor – we couldn‘t be prouder to be a part of it.

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