In the fall of 1943, armed with only his notebooks and pencils, Time and Life correspondent Robert L. Sherrod leapt from the safety of a landing craft and waded through neck-deep water and a hail of bullets to reach the shores of the Tarawa Atoll with the US Marine Corps. Living shoulder to shoulder with the marines, Sherrod chronicled combat and the marines' day-to-day struggles as they leapfrogged across the Central Pacific, battling the Japanese on Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. While the marines courageously and doggedly confronted an enemy that at times seemed invincible, those left behind on the American home front desperately scanned Sherrod's columns for news of their loved ones. Following his death in 1994, the Washington Post heralded Sherrod's reporting as "some of the most vivid accounts of men at war ever produced by an American journalist." Now, for the first time, author Ray E. Boomhower tells the story of the journalist in Dispatches from the Pacific: The World War II Reporting of Robert L. Sherrod, an intimate account of the war efforts on the Pacific front.
"In Dispatches from the Pacific, veteran biographer Ray E. Boomhower writes the compelling story of Time and Life reporter Robert L. Sherrod. Like Ernie Pyle in World War II Europe and North Africa, Sherrod eloquently told the story of American troops in the Pacific. And Boomhower tells Sherrod's story just as well in this beautifully written book."
Owen V. Johnson, author of At Home with Ernie Pyle
"World War II combat correspondent Robert Sherrod is as substantial a hero as the U.S. Marines he so faithfully followed and so convincingly covered during the war in the Pacific. And Ray Boomhower's Dispatches from the Pacific is as fine a way to make sense of this immense battle tapestry as any book I've encountered. A spirited work-and fine reading!"
David Sears, author of Pacific Air
"Robert Sherrod landed with the Marines on the beaches of Tarawa, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. Armed with a notebook and pen, he risked his life to report the Pacific War. ... Ray Boomhower's deeply researched and superbly written book makes clear why Sherrod was one of American's greatest reporters and why his work rings true today."
James H. Madison, Hoosiers: A New History of Indiana and Slinging Doughnuts for the Boys
