No Bended Knee: The Battle for Guadalcanal : The Memoir of Gen. Merrill B. Twining Usmc (Ret.)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent and important work of a top participant
Review: A very fine and important report from one of the very top participants on "the Canal" in 1942. It gives us an insight of the campaign from its planning stages to the day when the 1st Marine Division finally were allowed to rest. It brought my already immense admirations of the Marines to an even higher level. Thank you, is all I can say to Gen. Twining and his comrades in arms

Rating:
Summary: A humble man of incredible events
Review: General Twining's account is more than first-person as that portends one who witnessed history. He made it on Guadalcanal. This book is a superior account for one who desires to understand how war plans are made, how to train a unit and how to motivate men to do what is not normally done. He treats us to an excellent first-person insight of how one plans, equips, trains, and leads in combat. It is not a book from someone who sits in an ivory tower and has a better way of doing business. Finally, he reminds us of why we have Marines. A force that truly is ready to do our nations dirty business so we can stay free and secure.

Rating:
Summary: A humble man of incredible events
Review: History must always be judged on its honesty. Using this as a measuring stick, this is an excelent history. This is a first person account, or "Primary Source", and Primary sources tend to lose foucus on the larger picture of things. Not here. In this history, this author, Merrill B. Twining, was able to combine FOUR elements of a great story. 1) He was an eye-witness to the events. 2) He was an active participant in the decisions. 3) He weaves into the story the larger picture from sources on BOTH sides of the story, as in a classic "history". And finally, and most importantly, he holds nothing back. This is where primary sources so often fail. They tend to protect the people who were there with them, in the fighting. This bond of combat is the strongest there is, and, very often, mistakes or "situations" that could be embarrassing to a friend or hero,(possibly a dead war hero) are taken to the graves of those who were there to witness them and might know better. Gen. Alexander Archer Vandegrift,USMC, CMH winner and hero of Guadalcanal is now, because of this book, a real person. The fears, the strenghts, the intuition and the...dare I say it..the mistakes are now a part of public history and General Vandegrift is now a real person. Real people are worthy of admiration. Larger than life hollow bronze statues are far too lifeless and perfect to be real people. To be the one to tell the truth even when it may change the reputation of a dead war hero brother-in-arms is to demonstrate a courage and character that few men need demonstrate once in a lifetime. Merrill B. Twining has demonstrated these virtues twice. Once in combat and once again, with this book. The book itself is actually FUN to read. Guadalcanal is, as we all know, a very complicated topic, and explaining it is inherently problematic. Merrill Twining takes us on a B-17 ride with him and then into the rain soaked HQ tents with the tired and heroic "celebrities" of the Guadalcanal Campaign: Vandy, Red Mike, Bill Whaling, Foss, Turner, and of course, "Chesty" Puller. Its a VERY entertaining book. Not all Guadalcanal histories are, let's be honest. It's alot like Tameichi Hara's Japanese Destroyer Captain. (Another GREAT book..which I've always thought would make a great movie). On the chance that the General might someday read this review of his book, let me say what I say to all ww2 vets: thank you. And also, from one Marine to another, Semper Fi.

Rating:
Summary: More like 3.8 stars
Review: I would say more like 3.8 stars than four but it is a great book worth the read. Filled with details I hadn't heard before, like how the came to have so many .50 cal machine guns in the face of massive shortages.But, and maybe some will disagree, and maybe I'm wrong and reading too much into it, General twinning mentions through the book that he is the highest ranking survivor of the campaign. He seemed to use that to take shots at people who can no longer defend themselves, and that turned me off. I don't want to take away from what he did, it was above and beyond the call,he is a true hero and I am grateful for his service. I just felt he should have left a few of his opinions out or written the book thirty years ago.