John C. McManus - Island Infernos - The US Armys Pacific War Odyssey, 1944

Fire and Fortitude: The US Army in the Pacific War, 19411943

Hell Before Their Very Eyes: American Soldiers Liberate Concentration Camps in Germany, April 1945

The Dead and Those About to Die: D-Day: The Big Red One at Omaha Beach

September Hope: The American Side of a Bridge Too Far

Grunts: Inside the American Infantry Combat Experience, World War II Through Iraq

American Courage, American Carnage: The 7th Infantry Regiments Combat Experience, 1812 Through World War II

The 7th Infantry Regiment: Combat in the Age of Terror, the Korean War Through the Present

U.S. Military History for Dummies

Alamo in the Ardennes: The Untold Story of the American Soldiers Who Made the Defense of Bastogne Possible

The Americans at Normandy: The Summer of 1944The American War from the Normandy Beaches to Falaise

The Americans at D-Day: The American Experience at the Normandy Invasion

Deadly Sky: The American Combat Airman in World War II

The Deadly Brotherhood: The American Combat Soldier in World War II

Most Pacific theater events and operations took place on the other side of the International Dateline from North America. Thus, all dates and times in this series are local. To avoid confusion between morning and afternoon times, this series employs the twenty-four-hour military clock. For instance, 8 a.m. is 0800; 2 p.m. is 1400, and so on.

In the Japanese and Chinese languages, surnames are listed before given names, i.e., Tojo Hideki rather than Hideki Tojo. This is the exact opposite of Western practice. Because this is a work written in the English language, Japanese and Chinese names will be listed in the Western style, except with individuals, such as Chiang Kai-shek or Mao Zedong, whose names are widely known in their correct cultural format.

The terms Jap and Nip are viewed today as racist and offensive. However, during World War II, they were used so commonly among Americans, Australians, and Britonseven generals and policy makersas to take on the status of mundane slang. As such, I will make no attempt to excise the terms from the quoted sources in this series. In no way does this indicate my acceptance or approval of these pejorative words.

Throughout the series, the terms Pacific War and Pacific/Asia War are interchangeable.

All rank designations are current. Many soldiers were promoted several times in the course of the war. In this series, I use the rank of the person at the appropriate time frame. For instance, Douglas MacArthur began 1944 as a four-star general. In the passages that cover this phase of his life, I refer to him as a general. Later, he was promoted to five-star rank. Thus, in subsequent chapters, I recognize his new ranks and refer to him appropriately.

The term native to describe peoples of Asia, Pacific islands, Melanesia, and the like is, in my view, an inappropriate, patronizing, and somewhat dehumanizing legacy of colonialism. After all, one does not refer to someone from France or Poland as a native, so why would one use the term to describe someone from Burma or Guadalcanal? Thus, this series eschews the term native in favor of appropriate local or ethnic designations. The exception, of course, is in quotes from contemporary sources.

There are many versions and dialects of Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese, etc.). Thus names, places, and terms can have strikingly different English translations, i.e., Chiang Kai-shek versus Jiang Jieshi. This series employs the most commonly known versions of names, places, and terms.