Lucky Lady: The World War II Heroics of the Uss Santa Fe and Franklin

Rating:
Summary: I also noted some errors . . .
Review: As did some of the other reviewers, I noted some mistakes. Post a message if I'm wrong, but the photo of the men allegedly running on the deck of the USS Franklin after the kamakazie attack in October 1944 was actually taken on the USS Bunker Hill the following year. (I have seen it published in one of the Time-Life books on the second World War, which noted it as such.) There were also some errors in terms of grammar and usage.

I also wondered what happened to Captain Gehres, the chaplain who won the Medal of Honor and so many others. The author noted that there limitations in terms of space, but I wouldn't have minded a longer book.

Otherwise, the book was wonderful. It seemed to take a while to get to the attack on the USS Franklin in March of 1945, and (as many reviewers have noted) the organization was poor, with way too many flashbacks. But I enjoyed the description of the attack and its aftermath.

The detail was excellent. I felt as if I were on the ship fighting for my life along with the enlisted men and the officers. I could feel the confusion which resulted along with the fears of everyone on the Franklin and the Santa Fe of the ships sinking and further attacks--the ships were not too far from the Japanese islands when the Franklin was attacked by the dive bomber.

Aside from the shortcomings, this is an excellent book which depicted a major attack and how people reacted to it. It describes one of the U.S. Navy's finest hours in the second World War.

Rating:
Summary: A for effort but D for quality
Review: First let me say that my father was a crewman on a destroyer that helped save many crewmembers of the franklin that were in the water so my brothers and sisters were all looking forward to this book as I was.

In a nutshell Steve Jackson does attempt to tell the reader of the story and rescue of the Franklin in WWII and his work is a noble effort. However either because of his limited knowledge of military hardware or because of an inept editor this book contains so many blatant and obvious technical and historic errors that I found it difficult to slog through. I started noticing these errors and then started counting and then finally I lost count all together. They are distracting to anyone who relishes true history. I haven't seen as many errors in a book since Stephen Ambrose's Wild Blue Yonder.

And the format of the book is disconnected because Jackson skips from the Franklin to the Santa fe, forgoing rhyme or reason in doing so. I understand why he does it but at times I had to stop in mid sentence to go back to see what ship I was reading about. (I wonder how many other readers had the same problem?) I could barely put heads or tails together. And my brothers and sisters all had the exact same problems with this book and that is why I am taking the effort to write this review.

We all know it is not the subject and the men have a fasinating story and we do not want or intend to take anything away from these heroes. It is just the way Lucky Lady is edited.

This book is a good story and I give Jackson an A for effort. But reading this book was work. A reader should never have to work to read a book. I was exhausted when I fianlly finihsed it. I just couldn't wait to put it down.

Rating:
Summary: Lucky Lady Lose with Facts
Review: I guess it's too much to expect editors of history books to know much about history, but it's the least we can expect from an author.

The little things I can forgive, but when Jackson tells us that "Admiral King . . . reorganized the Pacific Fleet . . . into three main fleets" and "The Fifth Fleet, under the command of Spruance, represented the rest of the Navy's presence in the Pacific" it's just too much. [The Seventh Fleet, under Kinkaid, supported MacArthur, while Halsey and Spruance took turns planning/fighting with the same ships, changing only the fleet number as they switched command.]

A page later, Jackson tells us "Marine pilots in P-38 Lightning fighters flew from Guadalcanal to intercept" [Yamamoto]. The Army Air Corps would certainly find fault with that!

Are there more major blunders? Probably, but I'll never get that far.

Rating:
Summary: A gift for all the "boys" on a very Lucky and Heroic Ship
Review: I think anyone that reads this book will put it down and smile. It delivers exactly what the Title says: the Ship and Mrs. Jackson were "Lucky Ladies." This is a story of young boys asked to put their lives on hold, and fight in a fierce War. This is a book about real people, who had real families, and chose to protect the American Flag and all it stands for.
I have a B.A. in History from UC Berkeley, however, I did not read this book to check for its every historical accuracy. Many reviewers of this book can't get passed a few lapses of memories of the 80 year old men telling their stories. I believe these critics are missing the point. This book is not a High School or College level textbook to teach the detail of how guns perform or which code was used for which aircraft. The title tells you this is not a textbook, but a story of real people fighting a real war. Most of these fighters hadn't even seen their 20's yet.
The author wrote a book to remind us of the ultimate sacrifice these families made for the freedoms we all enjoy today. These men are now dying in record numbers, and they don't even have a memorial in Washington DC yet!
Many people hate history, and books about history, because they are boring and all about facts. Ask any High School student why they hate their History class. Besides, the real fact is, this book is a love story which happens during a bloody and terrifying time in American History. The book is also a gift to all the "boys" and their families who needed their story told. The sailors on the Santa Fe and Franklin may have been "just a few of many" in this war, but their families would beg to differ. If your looking to read an interesting book about real people, this is it. If you are hoping to go back to school and have facts shoved down your throat to regurgitate on the next test, well, this may not be your best bet. As a student of History, I have learned there are many different people who will claim their version is the truth. This book is about recollections and real life experiences. I challenge all you critics to write a Historical book that will silence all, and be a tad bit interesting.
Read this book if you have ever listened to a Veteran of any war tell their stories, and enjoyed it. Read this book if you want to feel like you are there with the boys on a scary adventure. Don't read the book if you are hoping to feel like you are back in High School History, trying to memorize every fact, in case it might turn up on a pop quiz.

Rating:
Summary: A good read - needed better editing
Review: In general, does a good job of telling the story of the USS Franklin & USS Santa Fe and their crews. The personal histories of selected members of the crews were well-written, interesting, and contributed well to the story. The technique of moving the story ahead, then jumping back in time, then moving ahead again was frustrating at times. Just as you have been brought to a point of action, you read about some earlier event in the ship's or crew member's history. The digressions should have been shorter to help the flow. If the author's previous works have been crime fiction, that could explain the approach he chose.
There were several aggravating errors and inconsistencies. We are told a plane is approaching from the port side, then two sentences later a sailor is looking at the same plane approaching from starboard. There are some technical errors. For example, I never heard of a Betty bomber with wing guns or a belly gun. If the author is relying on veterans' memories, a disclaimer would have been nice (as other vets have done in their books) to the effect that this is how events were remembered and may not be technically precise.
I'd recommend this book to those interested in personal recollections of WWII if they can get by the occasional error and inconsistency.

Rating:
Summary: Emotionally Touching
Review: My father (deceased) was one of the "boys" on the USS Franklin in World War II. I recently attended a reunion of the Franklin and met several "young" gentlemen who served in the fireroom with my Dad. The stories you read in the book are their stories, not made up and not ficticious. My sincere thanks to Steve for caring enough to write about something that happened so long ago. It may only matter to those who were there or the families of those who were there but, regardless, it is a priceless recollection of the era by those who lived it. Thanks again, Steve.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating read, but it needs a little help
Review: Steve Jackson, in his new book Lucky Lady, has provided us with an insight not often seen into the annals of Military history. Jackson has chosen to focus on Naval history during World War II, with an emphasis on two ships that are seemingly unrelated except for their assignment into the same task forces during combat exercises.

Jackson interviewed many of the ships' crew members in order to tell their tales, and supplemented that material with official histories of the ships and their combat experiences.

I found Jackson's style of writing to be easy to read, and very descriptive of the events encountered by the crew members. I thoroughly enjoyed his style of bringing the sailors to life in the book, and explaining the grim realities of naval & air combat.

The book also gave me new insights into some of the key military players in the war - I have a different perspective now of Admiral Halsey than I did when I started the book, and Captain Gehres is a man that I had never heard of, but I now have seen an interesting perspective of the man and respect for his struggles to save his ship.

I feel that although Jackson has provided us with a strong narrative history, he sometimes repeats information that was previously written in the book. The seemingly haphazard style of bouncing between the events occuring on the two ships sometimes leads to confusion, but this is easily overcome if each chapter/section is read as a separate "tale" to be told about naval warfare in the Pacific.

I think that this is a very good book, and will interest anyone that has a desire to learn more about warfare and the men who fought on these two ships.

Rating:
Summary: Read to learn the sailors' stories and for a sea adventure.
Review: Steven Jackson does a great job of telling the stories of many of the sailors on both the Santa Fe and the Franklin. The variety and depth of stories told shows his care for the veterans involved. Interwoven amongst the personal histories is a fairly conventional history of the the war in the Pacific. As other reviewers note there are a number of historical errors, some more grating than others. A general reader will get a good overview of the history of war against the Japanese seen through the lens of the experiences of these two vessels and their crews. A more knowledgeable reader may be distracted. But it is a story worth reading, despite it's faults. One should read this book with a focus of hearing the sea stories and the drama of the tale. This is the story you would hear as told by a veteran, errors and all. For an accurate history or the Pacific war, there are other, better (and dryer) sources. But few more exciting.

Rating:
Summary: You really want to like this book because of the people...
Review: This is a great tale of two great ships, a very big war, a fanatical and ultimately suicidal enemy, and men of courage and resolution. It is told with a great deal of humanity and empathy and evokes a time and unity of purpose now long gone. The young sailors and airmen who fought the war in the Pacific served in the most vast war front of all. The distances they covered are almost incomprehensible... as was the savagery of the combat.

I read the prologue to this book and was prepared to like it, because of the people whose lives it recounts and the service they gave. The author does a masterful job of making you know these men by recounting just how they came to be on the SANTA FE and the FRANKLIN that day the kamikaze came. He is to be commended for setting of the stage and the handling of the life and death struggles that ensued.

But, and it is a large BUT, this is one of the most poorly edited books I have ever struggled through. It's all about the old Navy AOCS phrase, "Attention to detail." Just a few examples: the Japanese aircraft are almost always mis-identified, unless it is the ubiquitous Zero. The allies provided code names for the Japanese aircraft. The "Tony," "Frank," and "Oscar" were fighters, not dive bombers. The four-engined seaplane "Emily" is also identified as a dive bomber! The gun turret in the Navy Avenger torpedo plane had a single gun, not two. The canopy on the Helldiver was not hydraulicly raised; it slid to the rear. As another reviewer pointed out, the multi-role "Betty" did not have wing guns or a belly gun. Dates, particularly in the first part of the book go to 1944, when the correct date is 1943... I could go on and on. This is just sloppy work and distracts from the reading pleasure of anyone acquainted with the facts. The argument might be "what does it matter sixty years later?" Maybe not a lot to some, but little details matter a lot in life and to staying alive for those in combat. It just reinforces the fact that no one edits for accuracy or if they do, they often have no idea about the subject matter. Sad.

This is a good story and has the benefit of being true. It deserves to be widely read with the understanding that it could have been outstanding with decent editing.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent lesson for all to read.....
Review: Very interesting reading.. so much I never knew nor would have known had I not read this book..
reading from the perspective of the men, is very emotional..
knowing what they were thinking, what they went through and how they felt at that time, rather than just reading generic accounts of the War and how the War was fought.. To be able to get into these truly brave mens lives, to put a person with a name.. who was waiting for them back home and what they did to help win the War and to get themselves home to their loved ones.. An excellent lesson for all to read..