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Pain and Purpose In the Pacific: True Reports Of War

by Richard Carl Bright

363 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #07-0839; ISBN 1-4251-2544-1; US$24.95, C$28.69, EUR19.45, £12.90

Interviews of American Veterans and island indigenous from Pearl Harbor, Saipan, Guam, Tinian, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, the Philippines and Okinawa send this truthful account to a place in the heart.

About the Book

This book did not begin with the idea of a chronology of the battles of the Pacific War, although an overview is included. But instead it was intended to be a brief account of the battles on Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa as I retrace the travels of one Marine from the farmland of Minnesota to Japan and back. Carl J. Johnson spent 30 months in the Pacific. Four of those months were in bitter combat on the islands of Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa. He is my uncle. I have been blessed to travel, & to spend time at many of the places he traveled during World War II. My travels didn't stop there.

As a Continental Airlines pilot based in Guam, now retired and currently living on Saipan, I have had the opportunity over a five year period to visit other islands that were the scene of horrific battles of World War II. In addition to Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa, I will mention a few of them. Included are Guam where I was based during the closing years of my airline career; also Belau, which is Palau, and includes Peleliu. Included too in this book are Iwo Jima, Corregidor and the Philippines. In my travels beyond Hawaii and Pearl Harbor, which was my introduction into the Pacific, were Yap, and Truk, which is Chuuk, and Pohnpei in the Carolines.

During my time in the Pacific, and mainly through my travels with the Military Historical Tours of Alexandria, Virginia, I have been presented with the opportunity to speak with several of the veterans of the Pacific War. Doing so has in some cases allowed me in some small way to understand a sense of the hell they had to suffer through. Included in this report are a few of their stories, as well as stories from some of the people of the islands who in one way or another were involved in the conflict.

Richard Carl Bright

About the Author

Richard Carl Bright was born and raised in Walker Minnesota. Some of his earliest memories are of riding with his uncle Carl on a tractor where Carl farmed, near the town of Akeley, Minnesota, just 10 miles from Walker. At that time, Carl had only recently returned to Minnesota. He returned to his farm, and a new life after World War Two in the Pacific.

Richard (Dick) is a graduate of Walker High School, and Bemidji State University, where he attended classes, and Columbia State University through distance learning and correspondence. He has degrees in Geography, Earth Science, and Theology, but holds very little importance to the degrees themselves. He says: "Education is essential, but it is what one believes, and the action he takes that makes the difference."

Richard Bright has authored The Ark, A Reality? and Quest for Discovery. He is a Vietnam veteran. He holds an Airline Transport Pilot Rating, and is a retired airline Captain. He retired from Continental Airlines in late 2004. He's the father of one daughter Courtney, and is married to Danielle, his Chinese born wife. At the time of this writing, he and his wife live on the island of Saipan.