Listen and read

Step into an infinite world of stories

  • Listen and read as much as you want
  • Over 400 000+ titles
  • Bestsellers in 10+ Indian languages
  • Exclusive titles + Storytel Originals
  • Easy to cancel anytime
Subscribe now
Details page - Device banner - 894x1036

All the Gallant Men: An American Sailor's Firsthand Account of Pearl Harbor

1 Ratings

5

Duration
5H 55min
Language
English
Format
Category

Biographies

The New York Times bestselling memoir of survival and heroism at Pearl Harbor

“An unforgettable story of unfathomable courage.” —Reader’s Digest

In this, the first memoir by a USS Arizona sailor, Donald Stratton delivers an inspiring and unforgettable eyewitness account of the Pearl Harbor attack and his remarkable return to the fight.

At 8:06 a.m. on December 7, 1941, Seaman First Class Donald Stratton was consumed by an inferno. A million pounds of explosives had detonated beneath his battle station aboard the USS Arizona, barely fifteen minutes into Japan’s surprise attack on American forces at Pearl Harbor. Near death and burned across two thirds of his body, Don, a nineteen-year-old Nebraskan who had been steeled by the Great Depression and Dust Bowl, summoned the will to haul himself hand over hand across a rope tethered to a neighboring vessel. Forty-five feet below, the harbor’s flaming, oil-slick water boiled with enemy bullets; all around him the world tore itself apart.

In this extraordinary never-before-told eyewitness account of the Pearl Harbor attack—the only memoir ever written by a survivor of the USS Arizona—ninety-four-year-old veteran Donald Stratton finally shares his unforgettable personal tale of bravery and survival on December 7, 1941, his harrowing recovery, and his inspiring determination to return to the fight.

Don and four other sailors made it safely across the same line that morning, a small miracle on a day that claimed the lives of 1,177 of their Arizona shipmates—approximately half the American fatalaties at Pearl Harbor. Sent to military hospitals for a year, Don refused doctors’ advice to amputate his limbs and battled to relearn how to walk. The U.S. Navy gave him a medical discharge, believing he would never again be fit for service, but Don had unfinished business. In June 1944, he sailed back into the teeth of the Pacific War on a destroyer, destined for combat in the crucial battles of Leyte Gulf, Luzon, and Okinawa, thus earning the distinction of having been present for the opening shots and the final major battle of America’s Second World War.

As the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack approaches, Don, a great-grandfather of five and one of five living survivors of the Arizona, offers an unprecedentedly intimate reflection on the tragedy that drew America into the greatest armed conflict in history. All the Gallant Men is a book for the ages, one of the most remarkable—and remarkably inspiring—memoirs of any kind to appear in recent years

© 2016 HarperAudio (Audiobook): 9780062652065
© 2024 Mariner Books (Ebook): 9780062645371

Release date

Audiobook: 22 November 2016
Ebook: 16 April 2024

Others also enjoyed ...

  1. The Last Fighter Pilot: The True Story of the Final Combat Mission of World War II Don Brown
  2. We Few: US Special Forces in Vietnam Nick Brokhausen
  3. The Red Line: The Gripping Story of the RAF’s Bloodiest Raid on Hitler’s Germany John Nichol
  4. Taking Fire: The True Story of a Decorated Chopper Pilot Charles W. Sasser
  5. Outlaw Platoon: Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan John Bruning
  6. The Germans in Normandy Richard Hargreaves
  7. We Were Warriors: One Soldier's Story of Brutal Combat Johnny Mercer
  8. Killing the Bismarck: Destroying the Pride of Hitler’s Fleet Iain Ballantyne
  9. D-Days in the Pacific Donald L. Miller
  10. Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War William Manchester
  11. The Last 100 Days: The Tumultuous and Controversial Story of the Final Days of World War II in Europe John Toland
  12. Blood Red Snow: The Memoirs of a German Soldier on the Eastern Front Günter K. Koschorrek
  13. Battle: The Story of the Bulge John Toland
  14. House to House: An Epic Memoir of War Staff Sergeant David Bellavia
  15. Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East Michael B. Oren
  16. Panzer Gunner: From My Native Canada to the German Ostfront and Back. In Action with 25th Panzer Regiment, 7th Panzer Division 1944-45 Bruno Friesen
  17. To the Limit: An Air Cav Huey Pilot in Vietnam Tom A. Johnson
  18. 19 Minutes to Live - Helicopter Combat in Vietnam Lew Jennings
  19. Blitzkrieg: From the Ground Up Niklas Zetterling
  20. The Last Battle Cornelius Ryan
  21. The Longest Day: June 6, 1944 Cornelius Ryan
  22. Whispers In The Tall Grass Nick Brokhausen
  23. Desert Fox: The Storied Military Career of Erwin Rommel Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr.
  24. Those Who Fall John Muirhead
  25. The Last Battle: When U.S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe Stephen Harding
  26. Air Force Blue: The RAF in World War Two – Spearhead of Victory Patrick Bishop
  27. The White Sniper: Simo Häyhä Tapio Saarelainen
  28. Vietnam: A Tale of Two Tours James C. Mooney, Jr.
  29. Islands of the Damned: A Marine at War in the Pacific R. V. Burgin
  30. The Hunter Killers: The Extraordinary Story of the First Wild Weasels, the Band of Maverick Aviators Who Flew the Most Dangerous Missions of the Vietnam War Dan Hampton
  31. Tin Can Titans: The Heroic Men and Ships of World War II’s Most Decorated Navy Destroyer Squadron John Wukovits
  32. Red Star Against the Swastika: The Story of a Soviet Pilot over the Eastern Front Vasily B. Emelianenko
  33. The Phantom Major: The Story of David Stirling and His Desert Command Virginia Cowles
  34. Decision in Normandy Carlo D’Este
  35. Für Volk and Führer: The Memoir of a Veteran of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler Erwin Bartmann
  36. Carrier Pilot Norman Hanson
  37. The Secret War: Spies, Codes and Guerrillas 1939–1945 Max Hastings
  38. Eyes Behind the Lines: L Company Rangers in Vietnam, 1969 Gary A. Linderer
  39. Dog Company: The Boys of Pointe du Hoc—the Rangers Who Accomplished D-Day’s Toughest Mission and Led the Way across Europe Patrick K. O’Donnell
  40. Call Sign Dracula: My Tour with the Black Scarves April 1969 to March 1970 Joe Fair
  41. Never Call Me a Hero: A Legendary American Dive-Bomber Pilot Remembers the Battle of Midway Timothy Orr
  42. Lords of the Sky: Fighter Pilots and Air Combat, from the Red Baron to the F-16 Dan Hampton
  43. Company Commander Charles B. MacDonald
  44. Battleground Prussia: The Assault on Germany’s Eastern Front 1944–45: The Assault on Germany’s Eastern Front 1944-45 Prit Buttar
  45. The Secret History of World War II: Spies, Code Breakers & Covert Operations Stephen G. Hyslop
  46. The Only Thing Worth Dying For: How Eleven Green Berets Fought for a New Afghanistan Eric Blehm