The classic photo book about the battlegrounds of the Pacific Theater then and now - updated with new information about the preservation and accessibility of these historic sites. Pacific Legacy offers an unprecedented colour record of dramatic wartime relics that survived for decades on the island battlefields of World War II: American landing craft and tanks rusting on the reefs and beaches where they were stopped by enemy fire; fallen aircraft of both sides at rest in the jungle; shell-pocked Japanese pillboxes and artillery emplacements; and packed-coral landing strips still as good as new. Captured over thirty years by roving photographer Gerald A. Meehl, these evocative color images are paired with archival photographs that show how these same tropical battlefields appeared in wartime - both in the heat of combat and in the calm before the storm. But this is far more than just a then and now picture book. The superbly written text covers the entire war in the Pacific, from the attack on Pearl Harbor to Japan’s surrender in Tokyo Bay. The principal battles are recounted hour-by-hour, drawing heavily on the firsthand accounts of men who were actually there. Together with the remarkable imagery, this vivid narrative helps the reader visualise what it was really like to have been at war in the Pacific, doggedly island-hopping to victory. AUTHORS: Rex Alan Smith and Gerald A. Meehl are also the editors of Pacific War Stories: In the Words of Those Who Survived (Abbeville), an oral history that serves as a companion to Pacific Legacy. Smith (1921-2010), who served three years in the Army Corps of Engineers in the Pacific, was the author of several well-received books of history, including The Carving of Mount Rushmore (Abbeville), the standard work on its subject. Gerald A. Meehl, the son of a B-17 crew chief, has traveled extensively in the South Pacific and photographed every major battlefield and site of the Pacific Theater.
