Military Officer - March 2006 - (Page 20)

rapidfire In Review Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944 By Bill Sloan. Simon & Schuster, 2005. ISBN 0-74326009-0. Bodog Gives It Up to Troops A poker tournament complete with a concert and comedy show was held recently in Oahu, Hawaii, in honor of U.S. soldiers and their families. Bodog.com, an online gambling site, hosted the charity event, which included celebrities, musicians (including Snoop Dogg), comedians, and troops. The event beneﬁted the Fisher House Foundation, which supports military families. The event was held for the 110,000 servicemembers based in Hawaii, many of whom were awaiting or returning from deployment in the Middle East, and was distilled to a one-hour program, “Bodog Salutes the Troops,” which aired on Spike TV in December 2005. When to Salute A group of veterans believes the national anthem provides a good opportunity to give veterans the recognition they deserve. They propose that veterans — covered or uncovered — salute when the national anthem, honors, or taps are played, rather than place their hands over their hearts as civilians do. For more information, contact Maj. Gen. Vernon B. Lewis, USARet., at milprivbl@aol.com. >> ON THE WEB: Answer a poll on veterans saluting at www.moaa.org/salute. 20 MILITARY OFFICER MARCH 2006 In Marine Corps history the amphibious assault of the coral island of Peleliu in September 1944 stands out as a stunning triumph of courage over steel. It also was the bloodiest and most controversial battle of the Paciﬁc War. In describing the ﬁghting between the 1st Marine Division and more than 10,000 fanatical Japanese soldiers, Sloan tells of the fear, resourcefulness, and courage of men in close combat. He also criticizes the poor intelligence, ineffective naval and air bombardment, faulty leadership, and political considerations that resulted in needless casualties to seize an objective with no strategic or tactical value. True North: Peary, Cook, and the Race to the Pole By Bruce Henderson. W.W. Norton & Co., 2005. ISBN 0-393-05791-7. The question of who really discovered the North Pole in 1908- 1909 is cleverly resurrected in Henderson’s suspenseful, well-crafted, and controversial history of the polar explorations of Adm. Robert Peary and Dr. Frederick Cook, men who were once friends and later bitter rivals in a race of discovery. History books say Peary was the ﬁrst to reach the North Pole, but Henderson’s convincing conclusions say it was Cook. Henderson tells of all the polar expeditions by both men, vividly describing the brutal cold, starvation, frostbite, and the deadly dangers of the frozen unknown. His portrayals of both men reveal Peary to be an arrogant, glory-seeking martinet whose shameful behavior maliciously discredited everything Cook accomplished and Cook to be a forward-thinking yet fatally naive idealist. This is an excellent story of forbidding geography, indigenous Arctic natives, explorers’ competition, and the foolish desire of man to conquer nature for glory. — William D. Bushnell PHOTOS: TOP LEFT, TOM ABRAHAMSEN/WWW.CLICK1PHOTOS.COM; ABOVE, STEVE BARRETT; LEFT, CORBIS http://www.moaa.org/salute

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - March 2006

Military Officer - March 2006 Contents From the Editor President’s Page Call For Board Nominations Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Financial Forum MOAA Member Services Ask the Doctor Chapter Activities Live It Up! Top Picks On the Road Again Destination: Arizona By the Numbers Cover Story: One Clean Shot From Combat to Congress Pages of History Information Exchange Advertising Index MOAA Calendar Sounding Taps Encore

Military Officer - March 2006

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