In his new book, Dispatches from the Pacific, author Ray Boomhower gives us a fascinating look inside the life of a wartime correspondent and man whose insatiable curiosity brought him to the front lines of some of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific War.
Robert Sherrod grew up in small town Georgia and soon found himself writing for various local papers. Joining Time magazine in the mid 1930s, he went on to follow the Marines into battle, starting in freezing Attu and culminating in ashy Iwo Jima and bloody Okinawa. Sherrod became one of the most celebrated correspondents of the US Marines in the Pacific.
Boomhower does an excellent job building Sherrod’s growing interest in covering the war from the heart of the battle. This was contrary to how most reporters covered the very real devastation – at an extreme distance. It’s as if Sherrod become hooked once he risked his life with the Marines on Attu. It was not simple bravado on Sherrod’s part. Boomhower highlights that Sherrod’s desire to be in the heart of the action was part duty, part not wanting to let the guys down and part a burning desire to tell the gruesome truth to the American people about the real deadly costs of war.
Those costs extended to the correspondents who covered the war as closely as Sherrod did, many suffering permanent injury. Some, like Sherrod’s beloved Army counterpart Ernie Pyle, never returned. Not only were the stories gathered on scraps of paper in the midst of hell, but the submission process provided its own frustrations. Reports were heavily censored. At times, journalists were not even aware of what had eventually made it into print until they received a physical copy of the paper or magazine weeks or sometimes months later. Sherrod privately expressed his frustration with this aspect of the job, one that any writer or journalist can readily empathize with.
Despite the censorship, Sherrod was determined that the American people should see the truth, even when it might be disturbing. A prime example was Sherrod personally influencing President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to release the short 1944 film With the Marines at Tarawa. The film was controversial in that it included footage of dead Marines – something that was shocking to US audiences. That Sherrod had been on the ground at Tarawa gave him clout with FDR. He explained to the President that not being truthful about losses did a disservice to those who fought and died. FDR agreed, against the advice of his advisers, and the 20 minute film went on to win an Academy Award.
At times Sherrod’s closeness to the Marines worked to his detriment, as outlined in Boomhower’s look at the Mount Sirabachi flag raising photograph controversy. Sherrod sided with the Marine photographer to the point of calling the iconic Joe Rosenthal flag raising photo “staged” and later had to apologize.
Despite his faults and understandable biases forged in battle, the Pacific War as we know it today would have been more propaganda than truth if not for brave correspondents like Robert Sherrod. Not only do we owe him a debt of gratitude, but so too those modern day writers who keep the legacy of journalists like Sherrod alive as Ray Boomhower has so successfully done here.
*****This is a five star WW2 Reads recommendation – our top rating! Get your copy today!*****
