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Letters
Interest in WWII Naval History primarily in the SW Pacific during the first 6-12 months of the war Mr. Gregory, Wow! Was my first, second, third and is still my reaction to your web site. I have an interest in WWII Naval History primarily in the SW Pacific during the first 6-12 months of the war. (Primary interest is in Java Sea theater of action since that seems to be a almost forgotten episode in history). Your personal statements about the Battle of Savo Island is fantastic. There are fewer and fewer men who 'were there' and are able to relate their personal experiences and I for one and sincerely appreciative of the time, effort and generosity you demonstrate by putting 'pen to paper' and sharing your research and experiences. I will return to your site and do some more reading, have you given any thought to actually publishing the data collected on the Solomon Islands campaigns? It may be a niche market but one I feel needs more publication Sincerely from a Cold War Sailor,
My thanks for your response and kind words about AHOY. It is an amalgam of my research and writing, and my very good friend Terry Kearns in Atlanta Georgia who acts as my Web Master, and is responsible for the site that the world at large views. When you refer to the your interest in the first 6-12 months of the war, of course you refer to it after the US came into the war as a result of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Mine was started on the 3rd. September 1939, as a 17 year old, when Britain, Canada, NZ and Australia stood alone against the might of Nazi Germany, and then Italy after Mussolini threw his lot in with that of Hitler. I had been at sea for well over two years when PH happened, and what a sigh of relief I gave then when the US declared war on Japan, I was at last convinced that victory would be ours in due course. My Savo story was published in Australia by the Naval Historical Society of Australia, but with our limited population when compared to that of the US, it is difficult to get the Solomon Battles story into print. But in my view these battles were crucial in holding onto the Solomons, we needed Guadalcanal if Australia was to be the base from which the US might launch its march in the Pacific towards Tokyo, and the Solomons guarded that lifeline from the west coast of Your interest is very much appreciated, and I must look seriously at the Battles around Java etc in which the Houston, and Perth were involved. Best regards,
Thank you for your kind response. Yes, you are correct when I refer to the first 6-12 months I refer to that time as of Dec 1941. I am surprised I'd write the email as I did, socioligists call it ethnocentric, where we base our statements on our own national/cultural history/circumstance. I have read quite a bit on events prior to US entry into the war especially where it concerned non-US ships involved in the Java Sea campaigns. I refer to the HMAS Perth, and HMS Exeter and primarily have not found much on the RNNS De Ruyter or RNNS Java . In addition I have read most of Winston Churchills 6 volume history of WWII which by necessity covers time from the 1920s. I also read on your web site the response made by US authors in reply to your inquiry of why they had left the Savo Island battle out of their history; very interesting. Any references or bibliographies you might find as pertaining to events in the Java Sea would be greatly appreciated. I have read quite a few books on the battles and the aftermaths (survivor stories.) Again thank you, and while I have not finished reading all the information on your web site due to the great volume (and quality) I will continue to visit it and absorb information as I can. Sincerely yours,
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