"The Twilight Warriors" is the engrossing, page-turning saga of a
tightly knit band of naval aviators who are thrust into the
final--and most brutal--battle of the Pacific war: Okinawa.
April 1945. The end of World War II finally appears to be nearing.
The Third Reich is collapsing in Europe, and the Americans are
overpowering the once-mighty Japanese Empire in the Pacific. For a
group of young pilots trained in the twilight of the war, the
greatest worry is that it will end before they have a chance to
face the enemy. They call themselves Tail End Charlies. They fly at
the tail end of formations, stand at the tail end of chow lines,
and now they are catching the tail end of the war. What they don't
know is that they will be key players in the bloodiest and most
difficult of naval battles--not only of World War II but in all of
American history.
"The Twilight Warriors" relives the drama of the world's last great
naval campaign. From the cockpit of a Corsair fighter we gaze down
at the Japanese task force racing to destroy the American
amphibious force at Okinawa. Through the eyes of the men on the
destroyers assigned to picket ship duty, we experience the terror
as wave after wave of kamikazes crash into their ships. Standing on
the deck of the legendary superbattleship "Yamato, " we watch
Japan's last hope for victory die in a tableau of gunfire and
explosions.
Among the Tail End Charlies are men such as a twenty-two-year-old
former art student who grows to manhood on the day of his first
mission over Japan and his best friend, a ladies' man and intrepid
fighter pilot whose life abruptly changes when his Corsair goes
down off the enemy shore. Another is a young Texan lieutenant who
volunteers for the most dangerous flying job in the
fleet--intercepting kamikazes at night over the blackened Pacific.
Their leader is a charismatic officer who rises to greatness in the
crucible of Okinawa. Directing the vast armada of sea, air, and
land forces is a cast of brilliant and flawed commanders--from the
imperturbable admiral and master of carrier warfare to the
controversial soldier assigned to command the land forces.
The fate of the Americans at Okinawa is intertwined with the lives
of the "young gods"-- the honor-bound Japanese airmen who swarm
like killer bees toward the U.S. ships. The kamikazes are
dispatched on their deadly one-way missions by a classic samurai
warrior who vows that he will follow them to a warrior's grave.
The ferocity of the Okinawa fighting stuns the world. Before it
ends, the long battle will cost more American lives, ships, and
aircraft than any naval engagement in U.S. history. More than
simply the account of a historic battle, "The Twilight Warriors"
brings to life the human side of an epic conflict. It is the story
of young Americans at war in the air and on the sea--and of their
enigmatic, fanatically courageous enemy.
"From the Hardcover edition."
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