Southwest passage : the Yanks in the Pacific /
John Lardner ; introduction by Alex Belth.
- Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, (c)2013.
- 1 online resource
Originally published: Philadelphia : J.B. Lippincott Company, 1943.
Includes bibliographical references.
The unready -- Westward (censored) ho! -- Convoy -- All ashore -- The shirtsleeve Baedeker -- The last bastion -- MacArthur and MacArthuriana -- Road company -- Darwin -- Japs, mostly dead -- The planes we fight with -- Dakota in the red dust -- As the Dutchman flies -- City life -- Log of the firecracker -- Port of bombs and butterflies -- Between zeros -- Seven deadly young men -- Coral Sea -- Diggers at work -- Behind the lines -- The Tasman bumps -- Homeward : the odd pace -- Glossary.
At a time when few Americans had visited Australia, journalist John Lardner sailed down under with the U.S. armed forces as one of the first American war correspondents in the Pacific theater. With his excellent sense of humor and gift for narrative, Lardner penned vignettes of MacArthur's arrival and his reception in Melbourne and a flight with the daring Dutch flier Capt. Hans Smits. More frequently, Lardner wrote about the ordinary day and the average person. Traveling throughout the country, in Southwest Passage Lardner offers a glimpse of Australia in the 1940s and generates war.
9780803253292
Lardner, John, 1912-1960.
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American. World War, 1939-1945--Pacific Area. World War, 1939-1945--Australia. World War, 1939-1945--New Guinea. World War, 1939-1945--Press coverage--United States. War correspondents--United States--Biography.