Unknown Valor: A Story of Family, Courage, and Sacrifice from Pearl Harbor to Iwo Jima

by Martha MacCallum, Ronald J. Drez (Contribution by)

Overview

In honor of the 75th Anniversary of one of the most critical battles of World War II, the popular primetime Fox News anchor of The Story with Martha MacCallum pays tribute to the heroic men who sacrificed everything at Iwo Jima to defeat the Armed Forces of Emperor Hirohito—among them, a member of her own family, Harry Gray.

When news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor came over the radio in a New York diner on Sunday, December 7, 1941, patrons grabbed their coats and their children by the hand, left a few dollars on the table and briskly headed home.  Everything was altered in an instant. They didn’t know what they needed to do, but they knew where they needed to be: home.

Martha MacCallum’s mother was a child in that diner that day, and her thoughts went to her teenage cousin Harry. In Unknown Valor, MacCallum follows Harry from life at home in Boston to the bloody battle on the island known as Iwo Jima. She follows her mother’s family on the homefront, from the days before the war to the days of waiting on the front porch for Harry’s letters.

Unknown Valor is the story of the Pacific war’s oppressive jungles and deadly beaches where teenagers fought and died, and the war rooms of the leaders  who set the course.  MacCallum explores Hirohito, the Emperor who drove a deadly expansion of the Empire, only to watch the United States relentlessly reclaim it all, at enormous human cost.

Meticulously researched, heart-wrenching, and illuminating, Unknown Valor is the story of the sacrifice made by ordinary American boys, who left home to save the world from tyranny, and left indelible marks on those back home who loved them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781094114651
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	02/25/2020
Edition description:	Unabridged
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 6.70(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

 

Martha MacCallum serves as the anchor of The Story with Martha MacCallum. She joined Fox News Channel in January 2004 and is based in New York. 

Table of Contents

Introduction: War Plan Orange xi

Prologue: Peekskill, 1971 1

1 Arlington, Massachusetts, 1938 7

2 Infamy 13

3 Outrage 25

4 The Changing Tide 36

5 What Hirohito Knew 49

6 The First Step: Say a Prayer for Your Pal on Guadalcanal 61

7 1943 84

8 Cracking the Inner Ring 108

9 Willing to Fight 120

10 D-Day: From Normandy to Saipan 138

11 Japan's Doorstep 159

12 "A Ghastly Relentlessness" 174

13 "An Island of Sulphur: No Water, No Sparrow, and No Swallow" 189

14 "Hell with the Fire Out" 212

15 The Badlands 235

Epilogue 273

Acknowledgments 283

Notes 287

Editorial Reviews

Martha MacCallum has written a wonderful book on the bravery and sacrifices of those who ‘island-hopped’ from Guadalcanal to Iwo Jima. Part family memoir, part personal history of small-town America at war, and part chronicle of Marine amphibious landings from 1942 to 1945, Unknown Valor is a beautifully written and stirring reminder to present generations that much of what we now take for granted was given to us by the sacrifices of those whom we must never forget.” — Victor Davis Hanson, Hoover Institution, Stanford University; author of The Second World Wars

“Unknown Valor is at once so gripping and moving about the war in the Pacific that I lost several nights sleep, refusing to go to bed until I’d read it all. The book blends fascinating details of Martha MacCallum's family’s personal story and sacrifice, and the touching moments of hope and family life add a special flavor to the story. Even though we all know how the war ends, what we gain from the book is a deeper appreciation for the scope and scale of the patriotism, dreams, and heartache that lived on. Unknown Valor is a triumph.” — Dana Perino, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller And the Good News Is...

“Martha is magnificent and so is this book. This is a story of love and military battle told with clarity and heart.”  — Peggy Noonan, 2017 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Commentary and Wall Street Journal Columnist

“Martha MacCallum’s Unknown Valor is an elegantly written and deeply researched history of how the U.S. Army and Marines won the Pacific theater island-hopping campaign in the Second World War. The sheer heroism of these American fighters on the battlefield is staggering. Every page soars with gritty realism and patriotic perseverance. A powerful saga about the greatest generation!” — Douglas Brinkley, author of The Boys of Pointe du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion

“Martha MacCallum has written a magnificent history, at once a sweeping and fresh account of one of the most dramatic chapters in our past—and an intimate portrait of all that’s best and most heroic in the American spirit.” — Sohrab Ahmari, op-ed editor, New York Post

“If you want your faith in America restored, you simply must read this book.”  — Marc Thiessen, resident fellow, American Enterprise Institute 

From the Publisher

Martha MacCallum’s Unknown Valor is an elegantly written and deeply researched history of how the U.S. Army and Marines won the Pacific theater island-hopping campaign in the Second World War. The sheer heroism of these American fighters on the battlefield is staggering. Every page soars with gritty realism and patriotic perseverance. A powerful saga about the greatest generation!

Douglas Brinkley

If you want your faith in America restored, you simply must read this book.” 

Marc Thiessen

Martha MacCallum has written a magnificent history, at once a sweeping and fresh account of one of the most dramatic chapters in our past—and an intimate portrait of all that’s best and most heroic in the American spirit.

Sohrab Ahmari

Unknown Valor is at once so gripping and moving about the war in the Pacific that I lost several nights sleep, refusing to go to bed until I’d read it all. The book blends fascinating details of Martha MacCallum's family’s personal story and sacrifice, and the touching moments of hope and family life add a special flavor to the story. Even though we all know how the war ends, what we gain from the book is a deeper appreciation for the scope and scale of the patriotism, dreams, and heartache that lived on. Unknown Valor is a triumph.

Dana Perino

Martha is magnificent and so is this book. This is a story of love and military battle told with clarity and heart.” 

Peggy Noonan

Martha MacCallum has written a wonderful book on the bravery and sacrifices of those who ‘island-hopped’ from Guadalcanal to Iwo Jima. Part family memoir, part personal history of small-town America at war, and part chronicle of Marine amphibious landings from 1942 to 1945, Unknown Valor is a beautifully written and stirring reminder to present generations that much of what we now take for granted was given to us by the sacrifices of those whom we must never forget.

Victor Davis Hanson