Pacific War Diary, 1942-1945: The Secret Diary of an American Soldier

Throughout the World War II campaign in the Pacific, an ordinary seaman defied navy regulations by surreptitiously compiling a diary on scraps of paper. One of the most extraordinary personal documents to emerge from the war, James J. Fahey's diary presents a vivid picture of an average sailor's daily life -- from the first battle to the typhoons and food shortages to the final desperate attacks by kamikaze pilots and Japanese suicide ships.

Fahey conveys [what] thousands of his fellows have never managed to convey to wives or friends back home: this is what it was like.