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Summary
Summary
"What was life like on a destroyer during World War II? Find out by reading Michael Keith Olson's superb telling of tales of the war in the Pacific as seen from the deck of a very luck 'tin can"... The son of a former Dale crewman, Olson interviewed 44 veterans and delved deeply into official documents to give this book the air of authenticity that puts the reader in the heart of the action.
" Tales from a Tin Can is the first oral history of one combat ship's adventures, sometimes comic, sometimes mundane, sometimes heart wrenching, over the entire course of America's involvement in the Pacific. An impressive accomplishment and highly recommended."
WWII History
"This fascinating book captures not only the furious clashes with the Japanese but also the humdrum days in-between and the heart-stopping encounters with typhoons that could be as lethal as any engagement with the enemy. Anyone interested in stories from World War II will find this well-illustrated account of the naval campaign in the Pacific fascinating."
Register -Pajaronian
Looking up from his newspaper from where he sat on the deck of the destroyer USS Dale, Harold Reichert could see the pilot plain as day--the leather helmet with chin strap, the goggles, and then the red rising sun painted on the planes fuselage. "I saw the torpedo drop and watched as it ran up on the old Utah." It was daybreak at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the beginning of the war, and the Dale was there; she would serve until the end, when the atomic bombs were dropped and Japan surrendered.
In the words of those who manned her, the Dales war comes vividly to life in this first oral history of a combat ship from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay. From carrier raids on Midway, Guadalcanal, and the Solomons to the bombarding of Saipan and Guam in the capture of the Marianas, from the Aleutians in the far north to strikes on Tokyo and Kobe, Tales from a Tin Can recreates the action aboard the Dale, and conveys as never before the true grit of wartime on a destroyer.
Author Notes
Michael Keith Olson is an agriculturalist and journalist. He consults on farm projects throughout the world, from the city of Watts to the jungles of the Amazon. Olson has produced, written, and photographed news for the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner newspapers, NBC, ABC, the Australian Broadcast Commission, and KQED Public Television. His previous book, MetroFarm , is a guide for small-scale farming in the city. Olson is the executive producer and host of Food Chain , a syndicated radio talk show, and is currently president of the MO MultiMedia Group in Santa Cruz, California, where he lives with his family. Robert "Pat" Olson, his father, served on the USS Dale .
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Author Olson managed to interview 44 veterans of the World War II destroyer U.S.S. Dale (despite their average age of 88), producing the first oral history of one ship's adventures over the entire Pacific theater. Their tales produce no new insights, but their eyewitness accounts of great and trivial events are fascinating. A dozen veterans describe the attack on Pearl Harbor, which occurred all around them, leaving their ship untouched. The men also spent nine miserable months in the Aleutians in subzero weather and stormy seas with no relief; five crew members suffered nervous breakdowns. But the Dale was a lucky ship: no sailors died in action, though all agree on the terrors of kamikaze attacks that destroyed nearby vessels. More frightening were typhoons during which everyone expected death for days on end, joining companion destroyers that sank with all hands. Between reminiscences, Olson writes a running account of the war and illuminates shipboard details readers need to know. His book is an impressive accomplishment, bringing vividly to life the actions of a single warship that fought across half the world during 1941-1945. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
The destroyer Dale was one of the few U.S. warships present at both the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay. In the interim, she compiled a distinguished combat record, from fleet actions and fighting off kamikazes to more mundane tasks of escorting every sort of ship, rescuing the pilots of crashed planes (and dividing up the complimentary ice cream received from the carriers), and spending long months in dock for repairs and refits. Olson's father served aboard the Dale and introduced him to a cross section of former shipmates, whose interviews provide an eloquent portrait of an American warship in the Pacific War and offer different viewpoints on everything from fleet actions to captains (some sworn by, others sworn at) to the pleasures and perils of shore leave and the endless sweat of keeping a hard-worked warship supplied and maintained. A sound addition to World War II naval literature. --Roland Green Copyright 2007 Booklist
Table of Contents
| List of Maps | p. 8 |
| Preface | p. 9 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 16 |
| 1941 | p. 17 |
| November: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii | p. 22 |
| December 7 to 8: Japanese Attack | p. 26 |
| 0700 to 0755 | p. 28 |
| 0755 to 0820 | p. 32 |
| 0820 to 0855 | p. 40 |
| 0910 to 1930 | p. 46 |
| 1930 to 0500 | p. 48 |
| December 8: Return to Pearl Harbor | p. 50 |
| December 9: Battleship Row | p. 52 |
| December 15 to 31: Cleanup | p. 52 |
| 1942 | p. 55 |
| January: The Recruits | p. 56 |
| January to March: Carrier Raids | p. 61 |
| Rabaul, New Britain | p. 64 |
| Lae-Salamaua, New Guinea | p. 69 |
| March to June: Carrier Battles | p. 71 |
| Coral Sea | p. 71 |
| Midway | p. 76 |
| July to December: Solomon Islands | p. 84 |
| Espiritu Santo | p. 87 |
| Guadalcanal | p. 92 |
| 1943 | p. 107 |
| January: Aleutian Islands and the Bering Sea | p. 108 |
| January to March: Amchitka Island | p. 112 |
| March 26: Battle of the Komandorski Islands | p. 119 |
| April to June: Attu Island | p. 142 |
| June to August: Kiska Island | p. 154 |
| September: Aleutian Islands to Pearl Harbor | p. 162 |
| October: Central Pacific and Wake Isl |
