The Castaway's War
One Man's Battle Against Imperial Japan
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Narrated by:
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Ian Harding
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By:
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Stephen Harding
About this listen
In the early hours of July 5, 1943, the destroyer USS Strong was hit by a Japanese torpedo. The powerful weapon broke the destroyer's back, flooded her engine room, killed dozens of sailors, and sparked raging fires. While accompanying ships were able to rescue most of Strong's surviving crewmen, scores were submerged in the ocean as the shattered warship sank beneath the waves - and a young officer's harrowing story of survival began.
Based on official American and Japanese histories, personal memoirs, and the author's exclusive interviews with key participants, The Castaway's War tells the entirely unique and very personal tale of Navy Lieutenant Hugh Barr Miller's fight for survival against both a hostile environment and an implacable human enemy.
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Story
On the morning of April 16, 1945, the crewmen of the USS Laffey saw what seemed to be the entire Japanese air force assembled directly above. They were about to become the targets of the largest single-ship kamikaze attack of World War II.
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Compelling story worth the effort
- By David Traill on 08-10-16
By: John Wukovits
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Intrepid Aviators
- The True Story of U.S.S. Intrepid's Torpedo Squadron 18 and Its Epic Clash with the Superbattleship Musashi
- By: Gregory G. Fletcher
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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On the morning of October 24, 1944, in the Sibuyan Sea amidst the Philippine Islands, VT-18, a close-knit squadron of six young American torpedo bomber pilots, departed the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid on a search and destroy mission. Their target: the super-battleship Musashi, the pride of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The pilots were tasked with preventing the immense enemy warship and the huge naval armada of which she was a part from inflicting unspeakable damage.
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TRUE PICTURE
- By RODNEY K. on 08-04-12
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The Burning Shore
- How Hitler's U-Boats Brought World War II to America
- By: Ed Offley
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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On June 15, 1942, as thousands of vacationers lounged in the sun on Virginia Beach, a massive fireball erupted from a convoy of oil tankers steaming into Chesapeake Bay. By the next day, three ships lay at the bottom of the channel, victims of Lieutenant-Commander Horst Degen and his crew on the German submarine U-701. In The Burning Shore, acclaimed military reporter Ed Offley presents a thrilling account of Degen's rampage along the American coast and of US Lieutenant Harry J. Kane's quest to bring him down.
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Ugh, Perhaps a Second Listen is Required?
- By Matthew on 09-05-15
By: Ed Offley
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A Dawn Like Thunder
- The True Story of Torpedo Squadron Eight
- By: Robert J. Mrazek
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 15 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the great untold stories of World War II finally comes to light in this thrilling account of the members of Torpedo Squadron Eight and their heroic efforts in helping an outmatched U.S. fleet win critical victories at Midway and Guadalcanal. These 35 American men - many flying outmoded aircraft - changed the course of history, going on to become the war's most decorated naval air squadron, while suffering the heaviest losses in U.S. naval aviation history.
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Excellent story well told
- By Kismet on 01-30-09
By: Robert J. Mrazek
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Lucky 666
- The Impossible Mission
- By: Bob Drury, Tom Clavin
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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From the authors of the New York Times best-selling The Heart of Everything That Is and Halsey's Typhoon comes the dramatic untold story of a daredevil bomber pilot and his misfit crew who fly their lone B-17 into the teeth of the Japanese Empire in 1943, engage in the longest dogfight in history, and change the momentum of the war in the Pacific - but not without making the ultimate sacrifice.
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A WWII Pacific Tale
- By A. L. DeWitt on 11-15-16
By: Bob Drury, and others
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Submarine Commander
- A Story of World War II and Korea
- By: Paul R. Schratz
- Narrated by: John N. Gully
- Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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A fascinating personal memoir of underwater combat in World War II, told by a man who played a major role in those dangerous operations. Frank and beautifully written, this book will be of lasting value as a submarine history by an expert and as an enduring military and political analysis.
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Engrossing Memoir
- By Jean on 12-24-15
By: Paul R. Schratz
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Kangaroo Squadron
- American Courage in the Darkest Days of World War II
- By: Bruce Gamble
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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In early 1942, while the American military was still in disarray from the devastating attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, a single US Army squadron advanced to the far side of the world to face America's new enemy. Based in Australia with inadequate supplies and no ground support, the squadron's pilots and combat crew endured tropical diseases while confronting numerically superior Japanese forces. Yet the outfit, dubbed the Kangaroo Squadron, proved remarkably resilient and successful.
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5 star History!
- By DON COOKE on 03-13-19
By: Bruce Gamble
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Torpedo Run
- The Story of WWII Submarine Hero Eugene B. Fluckey
- By: Don Keith
- Narrated by: Vincent Caruso
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Over the course of five combat patrols during the Pacific War, Commander Fluckey reinvented submarine warfare, pioneering audacious strategies to hunt and sink Japanese warships and merchant vessels. At the helm of the USS Barb, he directed his boat to attack warship convoys - never mind the lop-sided odds - and to slip into heavily defended enemy harbors to launch torpedoes at unsuspecting targets.
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Fluckey was a legend.
- By Sarah H. on 10-28-24
By: Don Keith
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Battleship Commander
- The Life of Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee Jr.
- By: Paul Stillwell
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Battleship Commander explores Lee's life from boyhood in Kentucky through his eventual service as commander of the fast battleships from 1942 to 1945. Said to be down to earth, modest, forgiving, friendly, and with a wry sense of humor, Lee eschewed the media and, to the extent possible, left administrative details to others.
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An Unassuming Leader
- By D. Baker on 08-06-23
By: Paul Stillwell
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Grey Wolves
- The U-Boat War 1939–1945
- By: Philip Kaplan
- Narrated by: A. T. Chandler
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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In the early years of the Second World War, the elite force of German submariners known as the Ubootwaffe came perilously close to perfecting underwater battle tactics and successfully cutting Britain's transatlantic lifeline. To the Allies, these enemy sailors were embarking on a mission of unequivocal evil. Each member of the Ubootwaffe understood that he must take pride in being part of a unique brotherhood. He had to do so because he was setting out on a journey that would test his mental and physical endurance to the very limits, and which he had little chance of surviving.
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Like a Jr High Book Report, Performance Bad Too
- By Bill Sayer on 12-03-15
By: Philip Kaplan
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The Bravest Man
- The Story of Richard O'Kane & U.S. Submariners in the Pacific War
- By: William Tuohy
- Narrated by: E.H. Jones
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist William Tuohy follows Richard O'Kane, America's undersea ace of aces, and a few fearless submariners, during the U.S. submarine war in the Pacific. This grueling battle saw 10 million tons of Japanese shipping sunk by U.S. submarines, but the cost to the U.S. Navy was one in five of its boats, the highest casualty rate of the U.S. armed services.
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Great details of WWII Submarine Patrols
- By James B. Cookinham on 02-13-05
By: William Tuohy
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Enterprise
- America’s Fightingest Ship and the Men Who Helped Win World War II
- By: Barrett Tillman
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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America’s most decorated warship of World War II, Enterprise was constantly engaged against the Japanese Empire, earning the title “the fightingest ship” in the navy. Her career was eventful, vital, and short. Commissioned in 1938, her bombers sank a submarine just ten days after the Pearl Harbor attack, claiming the first Japanese vessel lost in the war.
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Great Bio of a Truly Remarkable Ship
- By Aser Tolentino on 09-18-12
By: Barrett Tillman
What listeners say about The Castaway's War
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- R. Denton
- 10-26-16
Lots of prelude and epilogue, very little meat
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
I would only recommend to someone who had little or no knowledge of WWII naval history (so they would not be too bored) and didn't mind that only about 1/4 of the book is actually the "Castaway" experience.
Would you ever listen to anything by Stephen Harding again?
Maybe. I would check the print version at the library or book store first to be sure there actually was a pony in there somewhere.
Did Ian Harding do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?
Adequate.
If this book were a movie would you go see it?
NO! Now I know there are several other published versions of this story, most written soon after the experience. This one is a sad failure to Lt. Miller's legacy.
Any additional comments?
This book and the publisher's summary are very long on sizzle with only a tiny bit of steak. I expected that at least half or more of the book would be the detailed history of the 40+ days as a castaway, with survival efforts as well as the attacks and such he made. Instead, the castaway portion of the story is no more than 1/4 of the book, with very little detail. There is more content about the time after his rescue than anything else. The author writes about numerous tellings of the castaway tale in publications of the time and gives the impression that they were very detailed. I can only surmise that the author was not able to get the rights to use any of this material in his book. There are tons of irrelevant detail about the ship and the various experiences after rescue. The author seems to be trying to find a way to fill up a book, but with only a little of the full detail about Lt. Miller and his amazing and clearly heroic efforts after the sinking of his ship.
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- Mac_Tek
- 06-07-21
Great story, but reads like Wikipedia page.
It was a great story, but it was written too much like a history book or Wikipedia page. I agree with another user's review that at times, the narrator sounds like he's talking into a bucket. Probably edited audio.
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- Thomas
- 02-06-17
Good book bad read.
Mono tone college drone! The story is excellent but could not take another second of the readers voice.
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- Robert
- 04-05-19
Slight over-sell
Given the title and summary highlights, I was expected a detailed story of this hero's time on an island. This is a broad biography of the man. There is more time spent on the development of the movie of his adventure that never got made than his time on the island.
The background information on the building and history of the ship was interesting, as was the details of general Navy actions in the area at that time. There was something missing. Like this book was written from archive research and not any personal interviews or stories.
The sound editing was also a little distracting. Sporadically, the narrator appears to enter a tunnel or starts talking into a bucket. Random words seem to be spliced into sentences. It's not terrible, but regularly present.
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- Nick
- 01-11-18
Soooo.... bad.
after 3.5 hours of this book I gave up and quit listening. the author drones on and on and on and on..... with pointless facts. I get he's trying to build up a background story on how the main character got to where the tragedy happened, but so much of it was unnecessary. the book is only 7 hours long and there's no need to devote so much time to what is essentially just filler.
Oh, and the narrator is awful too. he talks fast, but with a lifeless monotone voice.
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