Pogiebait's War : A Son's Quest for His Father's Wartime Life / Jack H. McCall Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McCall, Jack H., Jr., 1961- author.

Series:

Legacies of war.

Legacies of War Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Pacific Area.

World War, 1939-1945.

Franklin (Tenn.)--Biography.

Franklin (Tenn.).

United States. Marine Corps. Defense Battalion, 9th--Biography.

United States.

United States. Marine Corps--Biography.

McCall, Jack H., Sr., 1922-1997.

McCall, Jack H.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (467 pages)

Place of Publication:

Knoxville, TN : The University of Tennessee Press, [2022]

Summary:

Jack H. McCall Sr. was a born storyteller, an inveterate practical joker, and a proud Tennessean whose flaws included a considerable taste for candy, or "pogiebait" in Marine parlance. Like so many other able-bodied young people in on the eve of World War II, he decided to enlist in the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Much more than a family memoir or nostalgic wartime reminiscence, this painstakingly researched biography presents a rich, engaging study of the U.S. Marine Corps, particularly McCall's understudied unit, the Ninth Defense Battalion-the "Fighting Ninth." The author provides a window into the day-to-day service of a Marine during World War II, with important coverage of fighting in the Pacific Theater. McCall also depicts life in wartime Franklin, Tennessee, and offers a poignant and personal tribute to his father. McCall dramatizes some of the classic themes of the war memoir genre (war is hell, but memories fade!), but he sets riveting descriptions of decisive action against rarely seen views of mundane work and daily life, supported with maps, photographs, and fresh interpretations. Another distinction of this work is its attention to the action on Guam, a very unpleasant late-war "mopping up" that has received relatively little scholarly attention. In his portrait of the bitter island-hopping war in the Pacific, the author shows how both U.S. and Japanese soldiers were often eager innocents drawn to the cauldron of conflict and indoctrinated and trained by their respective governments. Reflecting on the action late in life, Jack (as well as several other Ninth veterans) came to a begrudging respect for the enemy.

Contents:

The Making of a Young Marine: Pearl Harbor to Cuba

"Where're You Going, Marine?"

The Road From Cuba to the South Pacific

Guadalcanal: The Fighting Ninth Meets the Island of Death.

A Forgotten Victory: The Rendova/New Georgia Campaign

"R & R": Brief Interlude in the Russells

Operation FORAGER: The Invasion and Occupation of Guam

"Home Alive in '45"

Epilogue: The Laughter and the Tears

Acknowledgments

Appendix A

After the Colors Faded:

A Selective History of What Happened to

Them After the War

Appendix B

Organizational Chart

Appendix C

Navy Unit Commendation for the 9th Defense Battalion.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781621907572

1621907570

9781621907589

1621907589

OCLC:

1374426088