Civilian In An Ill-Fitting Uniform

The author writes: This memoir of World War II is unique. Instead of proceeding chronologically, it focuses on how a civilian with no military experience, converted overnight into a naval officer, reacted to the strange new world of the navy. To my surprise I found out, for example, that I would have to pay for my meals out of the salary the navy paid me. I also discuss somewhat weightier subjects such as the place of African-Americans in the World War II navy, the extreme steps the navy took to keep officers and enlisted men apart and the measures it adopted to control sexual activity.

I also expose two utterly different ways in which two captains of the battle cruiser "Alaska", on which I served as its fighter director, carried out their command responsibilities. The objective of the first captain seemed to be to make the life of the men he commanded as difficult and burdensome as he could, the objective of the second to make their life as easy and comfortable as possible.

In the background of all this is the prospect and actuality of furious combat. The "Alaska" received battle stars for participating in the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. During the battles, the skies were filled with Japanese suicide bombers intent on sinking American ships. They succeeded in sending more than 300 of them to the bottom of the Pacific. The "Alaska" was just a few hundred yards from the carrier "Franklin" when it was hit. The resulting explosions killed almost 800 young Americans. Near the end of the war, the "Alaska" was anchored next to the battleship "Pennsylvania" when it was struck by an aerial torpedo, causing the loss of more young lives.

After the peace treaty was signed, the men of the "Alaska" had a new kind of experience when the ship was sent to Tsingtau, China, to accept the surrender of a Japanese army.