Ragged, Rugged Warriors

by Martin Caidin

Book Overview

The heroic story of the rugged American pilots who fought the early air war against Japan This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553131095
• ISBN13: 9780553131093
• Release Date: May 1985
• Publisher: Bantam Books
• Length: 366 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Terrific read!

My father is one of the featured aviators in this book. The author interviewed my father extensively, and the depiction he provided in his book matches exactly with the stories my father told me. I would expect that family of other featured men and women would have similar remarks to make. The author is a talented writer, having many aviation books to his credit, as well as some fine fiction, so if the reader is looking for both an historically correct rendering of some of the finer moments in aviation, and a fine read, this book is for them.

Early WWII air war in the Pacific and CIB

The author has given us a very good account of the difficult early days of WWII for the allies fighting the Japanese, who had better planes of nearly every type1941-'42. This book is a true classic and hopefully will be reprinted soon.

The "other" Pacific War

The first time I read The Ragged, Rugged Warriors was over thirty years ago. Until then, like many others, I thought the earliest American involvement against the Japanese air forces was the Flying Tigers [before Pearl Harbor]. This book covers not only the American Volunteer Group, but the British and Dutch Empire interests, the Soviet-Japanese Nomonhan Incident, as well that of the Chinese themselves. Forgotten men like George Weigel, Tommy Walker and Gregory-Richmond Board are introduced as they try simply to survive the onslaught of the Rising Sun. There are those luckless Army aviators in their buckish and broken-down P-400's struggling against the nimble Zero's [and with no oxygen at altitude] at Guadalcanal. Caiden regales us with the exploits of Lieutenant Muri and his crew as they suffer their own personal hell at the Battle of Midway in a hauling --- Marauder medium bomber at wavetop level with the ubiquitous Zero's clawing away with guns and cannon. Not dwelling too long in any one setting, Caiden offers insight into the characters of these men who laid down more than just their lives to stem the unrelenting tide of Japanese conquest in East Asia and the Pacific. Not always knowing why, these men were buying what the Japanese could not afford to give in spite of their impressive victories in China and the Pacific islands. They were buying time...and at great cost. This is their story and deserves its place in the annals of history.