AIRCRAFT CARRIER

A STATEMENT BY

ADMIRAL WILLIAM F. HALSEY

Aircraft Carrier is intensely interesting and is fascinating reading. I have spent over four years in carriers, as Commanding Officer and as a Flag Officer. These included the original Saratoga, Lexington and the still extant and justly famous Enterprise. The first six months of World War II I had my flag on the Enterprise.

How vividly this remarkable book by " Joe " Bryan, my good friend, brought before me things blurred and half forgotten, due to the passage of time. His descriptions excellently portray events that were of almost daily occurrence.

( ... ) This yarn in diary form contains an almost blow by blow account of the youngsters, the magnificent youngsters, who flew and fought our planes from the Fleet. " Joe " Bryan gives you an insight into their daily lives, their thoughts, their superstitions, their reactions. When reading remember that almost daily they faced death. Aircraft Carrier portrays how they met this threat. It gives a vivid picture of the United States secret weapon, the youth of America. What a debt of gratitude we owe them ! It equally portrays the shipboard men who faced the Kamikaze threat, and all phases of shipboard life under war conditions. ( ... )