Robert J. Cressman

Going into this work, the extent of my knowledge of NAS Kaneohe Bay was that it was a seaplane base, and suffered as much from the shock and chaos of December 7 as any other American military and naval organization on that day. Coming out, I think it's safe to say that the authors have left no stone unturned in detailing the personal experiences of those caught up in the attack. I was also struck with how new Kaneohe was at the time; the property it being built on having only been acquired in 1939, and construction was ongoing. I look forward to reading the companion books on Hickam Field and NAS Pearl Harbor, and hope a book on Wheeler Field is added to the set.… (meer)

The book No One Avoided Danger is a person-by-person account of the Japanese attack on the Naval Air Station (NAS) at Kaneohe Bay on 7 December 1941. The authors have scoured official documents and after-action reports, personal accounts both written and verbal, letters, and memoirs of the defenders and the attackers to assemble an almost minute-by-minute account of the air strike and its immediate aftermath.

The book is written in chronological order and the individuals make their “entrances and exits on the stage” in the same fashion. In addition to the text, wherever possible, the authors have included photographs of the individual whose exploits are being recounted as well as contemporary pictures of the action being described. Thus, while the length of the book is 150 pages the actual text only occupies about 64 of those pages. In addition to the text there are 17 pages of copious notes covering every aspect of the book text.

The book does an excellent job of describing the events of that day and the combination of text and pictures does hold the reader’s interest. The attack on NAS Kaneohe can be viewed as a side show to the main Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor but it was just a deadly and all of the elements of surprise, death, heroism, mistakes, etc. that are part of every account of Pearl Harbor were present at Kaneohe. I think the book is a fine addition to the histories about the events in Hawaii on that fateful day in December.

(Text Length - 150 pages, Total Length - 181 pages. Includes 17 pages of notes, copious photographs, a bibliography and an index) (Book Dimensions inches LxWxH – 8.5 x .5 x 11)… (meer)