What was the last book you read or are currently reading?

Thanks Carl. My wife and I just finished putting my grandfather's scrapbook in a better book. This should help preserve it for the future. We are giving it to my dad for fathers day. Also, we found out dome more information about my grandfather, it looks like he was a Bronze star recipient as well and we are awaiting confirmation from the Veterans Admin office on that. It still amazes me that he was involved with all this during his war time duty and I never knew a thing about it.

Viper, my Dad rarely talked about his war experiences. I was in my twenties when he finally talked about his time there. I asked him if he was at Inchon since he never talked about it, but he said no. My friends Father was there and he hated MacArthur until he died.
You may think this odd, but I still have the navy blanket they but on my Dad when he was bought home on the hospital ship. My Wife saw it when we got married and said 'is that blood stains'?

Quote from ShortGrub

Viper, my Dad rarely talked about his war experiences. I was in my twenties when he finally talked about his time there. I asked him if he was at Inchon since he never talked about it, but he said no. My friends Father was there and he hated MacArthur until he died.
You may think this odd, but I still have the navy blanket they but on my Dad when he was bought home on the hospital ship. My Wife saw it when we got married and said 'is that blood stains'?

I hear ya, my dad said that he rarely talked about his WW2 experiences. It has been exciting to research all the information even if at times it can be quite frustrating not getting a "complete" picture.

And most Army guys from that era don't have alot of good things to say about MacArthur. I read a book called "The Ghost Mountain Boys", which was about the fighting on New Guinea during WW2 and that didn't put MacArthur in a very good light either.

Quote from SXViper

most Army guys from that era don't have alot of good things to say about MacArthur. I read a book called "The Ghost Mountain Boys", which was about the fighting on New Guinea during WW2 and that didn't put MacArthur in a very good light either.

Read "American Caesar" by William Manchester. IMO, it's the best biography of General MacArthur ever written.

MacArthur had a tremendous ego for sure but I personally feel he was one of the best generals in WW2. And he was probably the only man who could have commanded the occupation Army in Japan and had things turn out so well in that country following WW2.

I think much of the criticism of MacArthur sprang from his being named by Herbert Hoover to disperse the "Bonus Army", a large group of military veterans who gathered in Washington in 1932 to protest government policies. MacArthur was criticized for using excessive force to disperse the protesters.

My friends Father hated him for leaving the Marines at Inchon and taking his Army boys home. He was one of the few Marines who stood against the many Chinese and Koreans. That is why I asked my Dad if he was there since he was a Marine and would not say anything.
I firmly believe if Truman had not done what he did in relieving Mac, some future events would have been different. Only God knows.

Quote from ShortGrub

My friends Father hated him for leaving the Marines at Inchon and taking his Army boys home.

Well, Jeff, I'm gonna have to do a little reading to refresh my memory (I've discovered memory suffers the older you get) but I find your statement hard to accept at face value since I do remember that General MacArthur planned the Inchon invasion. It therefore doesn't make much sense that he would, as you claim, "leave the Marines and take his Army boys home".

I get the impression from this account of Inchon that Truman and his fellow politicians were more responsible (as usual) for the problems encountered than was MacArthur. Apparently, the pols (as usual) had gutted the fighting forces following the end of WW2 and there just weren't sufficient Marines available to pull off an amphibious invasion. Gotta get that "peace dividend", you know.

I have another book titled "This Kind of War" by the same Texas historian who wrote the history of the Comanche/frontier settlement wars (T.R. Fehrenbach) that I want to look over as I always thought it was one of the better histories of the Korean War.

Jeff,
Here is the official military history account of the Inchon landing. I doubt there is another historical report more comprehensive than this. Nowhere in the history have I found even a hint that General MacArthur picked up his marbles (soldiers) and went home.

Quote from The Ringo Kid

Hi Todd, quite welcome. Also, glad you are actively preserving his momories and such-most people out there-don't and often either sell, give or throw awa this valuable stuff. Case-in-point-several years ago when I was touring Germany-I met an Antiques and Militaria dealer in Lubeck-who was one of those who heard that Top-Uboat Ace-and recipient of the Knights Cross, Oak leaves, Swords and Diamonds (one of only 27 to get the Diamonds) Wolfgang Luth's family just threw away all of his stuff-uniforms, awards-certificates photos and such-into the nearby City garbage dump. Well-on hearing that-this guy as well as dozens of others-went there immediately to see if they could find any of Luths stuff-they did-thankfully) and as far as is known-everything thrown away by the Luth Family-was rescued and some of it can now be viewed in various museums. I had the priviledge to actually get to hold a pair of his Oak Leaves and Swords-which were then-secretly in storage at the Uboat Archi i Altenbruch-near Cuxhaven. Horst Bredow-that Museums Owner/Curator-was presented with these by the Luth family after the citizens of Lubeck had returned all of that valuable property. For prosperity sake-one of Luths pairs of oaks and swords-was given to Horst and his museum. At that time-this cased set would have easily sold on the market for about $150,000. On todays market-it would easily go for 1/2 a million dollars.

You don't have to worry about me selling his stuff. It probably isn't worth a whole lot and I am not even thinking about selling it as its more valuable to our families history. I do know that the Busthmaster patch is rare and vey hard to find. I found 2 on the internet for sale for $25 on one site and $50 on another. I can find no place that even makes reproductions so that one I will defintely be keeping. I do have the japanese sword in my possesion that he brought back from the Pacific theater and plan on hanging onto the for a very long time.

Quote from The Ringo Kid

Hi Todd, that's great to hea. Also, Japanese Militaria has been skyrocketing up in prices lately. That Samurai sword that just 2 years ago might have sold for only $100.00 but now--they are easily reaching $1,000.00 or more-d epending on what dealers you might visiting their sites on-who have prices to compare.

I guess for insurance reasons I should have it appraised. Antiques Roadshow here I come!!!!

Sidenote: It is in my gun cabinet and I have the humidity controlled in the cabinet and a silicon impregnanted gun sock that it is inside of.

Quote from William T Brooks

If you have a Samurai Sword "A Katana" is the Long Sword and "The Wakizashe" is the Short Sword and if You have One Of These and it is Sighed By The Maker it is Worth Big Money !!

:teeth_smile:
I saw one a few years back that was Sighed by the Maker and was sold for Over $25,000 and taken back to Japan !!!

Chilibill

I beleive mine is the Katana. As far as signed by the maker, I don't believe that it is. This will be something that I will have to do more research on.

I'm currently reading a biography of Steve McQueen by some guy named Terrill. Steve has always been a favorite actor of mine but if this bio is to be believed, he was one sorry SOB, particularly early in his career. He was constantly cheating on his spouses and treated other people in the movie industry like dirt, including fellow performers, directors and even producers.

Once he started to make it in large amounts, he spent money like there was no tomorrow. But before he became popular with the movie-going public ("The Magnificent Seven" was his breakthrough film.), he spent his wife's money like a drunken sailor.

Quote from Stumpy

I'm currently reading a biography of Steve McQueen by some guy named Terrill. Steve has always been a favorite actor of mine but if this bio is to be believed, he was one sorry SOB, particularly early in his career. He was constantly cheating on his spouses and treated other people in the movie industry like dirt, including fellow performers, directors and even producers.

Once he started to make it in large amounts, he spent money like there was no tomorrow. But before he became popular with the movie-going public ("The Magnificent Seven" was his breakthrough film.), he spent his wife's money like a drunken sailor.

Does the writer mention Billy Graham? Graham met with McQueen in the last days of his life. Apparently McQueen did repent of his ways before he died.

Quote from ShortGrub

Does the writer mention Billy Graham? Graham met with McQueen in the last days of his life. Apparently McQueen did repent of his ways before he died.

He hasn't mentioned Graham yet but I'm only about 1/3 of the way through the book.

Steve was a study in personality conflicts. As mentioned earlier, he used the heck out of people, treated people he considered above him in the pecking order as an enemy but was often kind to those he felt were lower than him in the economic food chain.

Apparently, all these traits were caused by his very unhappy and unstable childhood. He was, in effect, a bastard and acted like one for much of his life. Like I said, he was one of my favorite actors but this book has revealed some aspects of Steve the person that are sure not very flattering. For many years, he was a heavy user of most kinds of drugs and that's a human failing I detest.

Reading Louis L'Amour's Riding the Grub Line. A series of short stories, most of which I have read in other LL books, but still a great read. I don't think there has ever been a better Western writer than Louis L'Amour!

Quote from Duke_Wayne

I don't think there has ever been a better Western writer than Louis L'Amour!

It's funny - I've been a voracious reader for all of my 71 years. I like almost every kind of literature, especially history and biographies. I also like Western writers very much but for some reason, I've never cared much for L'Amour's writing.

Quote from ShortGrub

Does the writer mention Billy Graham? Graham met with McQueen in the last days of his life. Apparently McQueen did repent of his ways before he died.

Well, Jeff, I'm in the closing phase of the book and according to it, Billy Graham did visit with Steve shortly before he died. Also, I guess Steve saw the light and repented of his misspent life in the last 2 or 3 years before he died. Although I'm wondering how sincere that repentance was because if the author is to be believed, Steve's conversations with friends and acquaintances were filled with pretty raw profanities until almost the end. I find it hard to believe that a man who had truly accepted God would use that kind of language.

McQueen was a born rebel though and I guess that's why I liked him.