Ol'Harry

THE ERRORS STOP HERE

I didn’t think for one moment that Bill O’Reilly would answer my email message.  After all, it contained a litany of errors found in his recent best seller, KILLING THE RISING SUN.

 

Conversely, I hope he doesn’t think for one moment that I will let those errors go unscathed for readers of this column.  Nor that I come to these pages to condemn his book.

Granted, the message carried a negative tone.  I didn’t care for my first call-out, and recently, when called out for the 300^th time, it wasn’t any more palatable. 

But it’s doubtful he would have responded, even if I had glowingly posted him that I thought this was his best “Killing” book yet – which I do.  Just a guess, but he and his ghost writer buddies are probably already busy, scouring the planet for something else to kill.

Some of his errors are excusable, such as the statement that the distance from San Francisco to Tokyo is 8000 miles.  When I made that trip via troopship in the 1950s, it took 21 days and seemed like 88,000 miles.  However, Google distance says it’s only 5136 miles.

There was no suspense that the plot a book of this genre would lead to the deck of the USS Missouri, in Tokyo Bay, for surrender ceremonies, photo ops, and mass flyovers.  O’Reilly had good words to say about the “Mighty Mo.”  In fact, they were too good!  His mention of the ship’s 25-inch guns would have caused consternation with international treaty folks – 16-inch is the legal maximum – the Missouri has nine of them, but zero 25-inchers.

His glowing accolades went down with the ship when he quantified her length as almost as long as a football field.  At 887 feet, she is much closer to the length of three football fields.

These all too obvious errors were on page 257 of the 300-page jewel of a World War II broad brush – definitely not his best page.

Looking past the errors, allow another disclaimer – this is one great book.  I recommend it wholeheartedly.  Buy, it borrow it, check it out, or Kindle it, you will be glad you did.  Best you buy it, because it is one you will want to read more than once.

O’Reilly struggled with the Marine Corps table of organization during the Battle of Peleliu, primarily on page 40.  He conflicted himself by reporting that the 1^st Marine Division, no longer a fighting force, was relieved by the 5^th Marines. 

Three regiments made up the 1^st Marine Division: 1^st Marines, 5^th Marines, and 7^th Marines.  O’Reilly should have reported, “the 1^st Marines were no longer a fighting force.”

While the errors on page 257 were unforced, unnecessary, and fall in the low-hanging fruit category, the Marine Corps infrastructure mishap on Peleliu is more easily over-looked and forgiven – except for a best-selling author.

What cannot be over-looked and forgiven are errors on page 35.  O’Reilly mentioned a Marine officer named Pope who had first seen action on Guadalcanal in June, 1942.

Numerous Guadalcanal veterans have been written about in these pages, including PFC Speedy Spach of the 5^th Marines, Major General Lloyd Wilkerson USMC (Retired) of the 1^st Marines who was a PFC at the time, and my brother, Sergeant Jack Thetford, of the 1^st Marine Air Wing – even so, Marines did not land on Guadalcanal until August 7, 1942.

O’Reilly’s Grand Poobah comes in dealing with that Marine officer named Pope.  Not only did he place Everett Pope on Guadalcanal when it was only occupied by natives, Korean laborers and Japanese troops – he mistakenly reported Pope was the father of two sons. 

This would have been a shock to his bride of just a few months, Mrs. Eleanor Hawkins Pope.

The Popes did eventually have two sons, Lawrence E. and Ralph H. Pope, but only after Captain Everett Pope returned home from combat campaigns on Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, and Peleliu – during which he earned a bronze star, purple heart, and Congressional Medal of Honor.

The Pope son, Lawrence E., should sound familiar to readers of these pages.  As a retired U.S. Ambassador to Chad, Ambassador Pope was called back into service in 2012 when John Christopher Stevens, U.S. Ambassador to Libya, was murdered by terrorists at Benghazi.

Ambassador Pope has been called upon again more recently.  He will speak at the inauguration of the Bowdoin College Marine Corps Association.  It will be named in memory of his father, a magna cum laude graduate from Bowdoin. 

Hopefully, the Greensboro News & Record will send Bill O’Reilly a gift subscription.  He might enjoy reading about our veterans as much as we enjoyed reading his KILLING THE RISING SUN.