D-Days in the Pacific: The Us Coast Guard in World War II

Winner of the 2008 Foundation for Coast Guard History Book Award
The images of soldiers and marines coming ashore on hostile shores are embedded in our collective memory of World War II. But what of the sailors who manned the landing craft, going back and forth under fire with nowhere to take cover, their craft the special targets of enemy gunners?

In this book, Ken Wiley, a Coast Guardsman on an Attack Transport in the Pacific, relates the intricate, often nerve wracking story of how the United States projected its power across 6,000 miles in the teeth of fanatical Japanese resistance. Each invasion was a swirl of moving parts, from frogmen to fire support, transport mother ships to Attack Transports, the smaller Higgins boats (LCVPs), and during the last terrifying stage the courageous men who would storm the beaches.

The author participated in the campaigns for the Marshall Islands, the Marianas the Philippines and Okinawa, and with a precise eye for detail relates numerous aspects of landing craft operations, such as ferrying wounded, that are often discounted. He conveys the terror and horrors of war, as well as, on occasion, the thrill, while not neglecting the humor and cameraderie of wartime life.

An exciting book, full of harrowing combat action, D Days in the Pacific also provides a valuable service in expanding our knowledge of exactly how World War II’s massive amphibious operations were undertaken.

Table of Contents

Preface. The Last Seven Miles

Chapter 1. The Attack Transport Emerges
Chapter 2. The Children of the Thirty’s
Chapter 3. Seventeen, Going on Maturity
Chapter 4. Misery in the Making
Chapter 5. Guys, Gals and Games
Chapter 6. A Touch of Salt Spray
Chapter 7. The Mighty Middie Maru
Chapter 8. Fiery Introduction at Kwalaliem
Chapter 9. Boys Become Men at Eniwetok
Chapter 10. One Punch
Chapter 11. It’s a Small World
Chapter 12. Commit Their Bodies to the Deep
Chapter 13. The Pearl of the Pacific
Chapter 14. Idle Time Chatter
Chapter 15. A Rose by any Other Name
Chapter 16. Saipan; Rattling Toyko Rose’s Cage
Chapter 17. Good Morning Charlie
Chapter 18. A Little Fun in the Middle of Chaos
Chapter 19. The Suicide LCVP
Chapter 20. The South Pacific
Chapter 21. Lucky 13 Gets Her Name
Chapter 22. In The Burst
Chapter 23. Special Mission
Chapter 24. Return to the Philippines
Chapter 25. Mail Call
Chapter 26. The Japanese Strike Back at Leyte
Chapter 27. Lucky Thirteen
Chapter 28. Shove Off Cox’n
Chapter 29. New Hebrides Incident
Chapter 30. The Grass is Always Greener
Chapter 31. April’s Fools
Chapter 32. Okinawa Shima
Chapter 33. Confusion on the Road
Chapter 34. Forty Eight in Diego
Chapter 35. Stateside

Postscript
Appendix: 1944 Arthur Middleton Roster
Index

Ken Wiley was the sixth of seven children born to Troy and Dora Thompson Riley. After service in the US Coast Guard during WWII, he graduated from Hillsboro Junior College and Oklahoma A&M. In 1952 he took a job with Bell Helicopter as as hydraulics design engineer, and worked in a variety of skilled and managerial positions until his retirement in the 1990s. He has four grown daughters and is the founder of Veterans Video Museums prgram. He lives in Mountain City TN with his wife Deane.