N. Jack "Dusty" Kleiss

5664. Never Call Me a Hero A Legendary American Dive-Bomber Pilot Remembers the Battle of Midway, by N. Jack "Dusty" Kleiss with Timothy and Laura Orr (read 16 Dec 2019) This a good book to read. It is by a crack pilot who dropped bombs on three Japanese ships during the battle of Midway. The author was born 7 March 1916 in Coffeyville, Kansas. He entered the Naval Academy in 1934. After graduating in 1938 he applied to be a Navy pilot. While awaiting flight training he served on the cruiser Vincennes, the destroyer Goff, and the destroyer Yarnell. Then in August 1940 he started flight training at Pensacola and after completing that successfully he was assigned to the aircraft carrier Enterprise. In June 1942 he was in the battle of Midway and had great success therein. All of this is told of with considerable detail as is his career thereafter. He was 99 when he did this book but had a lot of material so did not have to rely only on his memory. He died 22 April 2016, age 100. The book is consistently interesting and when he was in the battle it is super-exciting. I stood in awe of the fact that he apparently enjoyed the very dangerous things he did and did so well.… (mer)

First, beware this an oral history by a participant. If you're looking for a scholarly history, I'd recommend Shattered Sword. If you're looking for an unfiltered first hand account of the first few months of the war, this a great book. And, although maybe not the direct intent of the author, this maybe the best description in writing of the Gilbert Islands Raids,
The book is laid out in the typical style, youth, early military career, Midway, and post midway career. Like many authors who saw combat, Captain Kleiss acknowledges the importance of having someone to live for by including his relationship with and including the letters to his wife.
There are a few minor errors that can be attributable to the age of Captain Kleiss and what I perceive as the relative youth of his co-authors. None of these errors are fatal to the book.
Please note that the four stars are based on "I like it". There is nothing negative about this book, in fact it is an excellent oral history of the first few months of the pacific war. Including descriptions of the learning curves from the loftiest admiral on down.

Highly recommended as a stand alone volume and, as a companion volume to more traditional histories such as "The First Team".… (mer)