THE LAST STAND OF THE TIN CAN SAILOR
The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailor
Author’s Name
Name of Institution
Author Note
THE LAST STAND OF THE TIN CAN SAILOR
In the morning of October 25, 1944, off the coast of Samar in the Philippine Sea history was about to change. And this would spell the end of Japanese naval and air power. The Japanese had been on the defensive since Midway in 1942, they knew that if they failed to stop the American invasion of the Philippines, chances of recovery were unlikely. Therefore, they committed their naval forces to an all-out, last-ditch effort to defeat the invasion. The plan called for a three-pronged effort: a Northern Force of aircraft carriers to lure Adm. Halsey's Third Fleet away from the Philippines where he was supposed to be guarding MacArthur's northern flank; a…show more content… Hornfischer’s “The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors” tells a comprehensive, gripping and the extraordinary story of the America’s Navy’s most heroic, and statistically surprising, victory of World War II. It focuses on the Battle of Samar, one of the naval battles in a campaign that were later named the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The Battle of Leyte Gulf is famous, the largest, and last, major surface action of World War II, and the remains of the Imperial Japanese Navy was essentially destroyed during it.
Much has been written about the Battle off Samar but nothing as comprehensive and gripping as The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors. James D. Hornfischer, a professional writer, has combed the archives for official reports and government documents and has interviewed dozens of survivors to tell the story of these ordinary Americans who did extraordinary things on that October morning in 1944. Told with unwavering detail that takes the reader into the horror of engine rooms and fire rooms turned into raging infernos by enemy torpedoes and shells, the Tin Can Sailors retell one of the tribute paid to Marines at Iwo