Dirty Eddie's War Volume 20

Dirty Eddie’s War is the true account of the war-time experiences of Harry Andrew March, Jr., captured by way of diary entries addressed to his beloved wife, Elsa. Nicknamed “Dirty Eddie” by his comrades, he served as a member of four squadrons operating in the South Pacific, frequently under difficult and perilous conditions. Flying initially from aircraft carriers covering the landings at Guadalcanal in August 1942, he was one of the first pilots in the air over the island and then later based at Henderson Field with the “Cactus Air Force.” When he returned to combat at Bougainville and the “Hot Box” of Rabaul, the exploits of the new Corsair squadron “Fighting Seventeen” became legendary.Disregarding official regulations, March kept an unauthorized diary recording life onboard aircraft carriers, the brutal campaign and primitive living conditions on Guadalcanal, and the shattering loss of close friends and comrades. He captures the intensity of combat operations over Rabaul and the stresses of overwhelming enemy aerial opposition.Lee Cook presents Dirty Eddie’s story through genuine extracts from his diary supplemented with contextual narrative on the war effort. It reveals the personal account of a pilot’s innermost thoughts: the action he saw, the effects of his harrowing experiences, and his longing to be reunited with the love of his life back home.

"The American Navy fighter pilot Harry 'Dirty Eddie' March defied the rules and kept a diary of his service in the South Pacific from 1942 to 1944. It shows far more clearly than censored letters or official documents the physical and mental challenges confronted by fighter pilots and the toll they took on them. . . . [T]he immediacy of the material sets it apart from most other accounts. . . . Dirty Eddie's War captures an individual pilot's experiences and makes them fully accessible to its audience."--Michigan War Studies Review, "It really is a story that deserves to be told. Thanks to Harry's letters reporting to the home front, his family preserved a very accurate picture of the man and his many adventures. Harry March's life may have been cut short, but due to the unstinting efforts of author and historian, Lee Cook, his true legacy will not be lost."--from the Foreword by William Lee "Country" Landreth, Commander, U.S.N. "What I liked best was the extreme ambivalence 'Dirty Eddie' March shows about serving at the spear point. Exhaustion was constant, a condition made much worse by the malignant climate of the malarial jungle throughout the area. During both tours the emotional, psychological and physical pounding endured has Dirty Eddie--and his friends--most willing to pass the baton and get out. He writes much about his comrades who perished. Casualties were painful and psychological wear severe. His diary catches this unit fatigue nicely--something rarely done in accounts of the air war."--Eric Bergerud, author of Fire in the Sky: The Air War in the South Pacific "Dirty Eddie's War adds a rich dimension of personal and personality to the historiography. In the sheer numbers of WWII books, it is easy to lose the individuals, and books such as this serve as reminders of how personal the war really was. His diary is the unvarnished truth, not meant for outside eyes, and is often brutally honest."--Sharon Tosi Lacey, author of Pacific Blitzkrieg: World War II in the Central Pacific (UNT Press)

LEE COOK is the author of The Skull and Crossbones Squadron: VF-17 in World War II; Fighting 17: A Photographic History of VF-17 in World War II; and The Aces of Fighting 17: VF-17's Top Guns in World War II. He lives in Norfolk, England, with his wife Michele.