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    Hell from the Heavens: The Epic Story of the USS Laffey and World War II's Greatest Kamikaze Attack
    Hell from the Heavens: The Epic Story of the USS Laffey and World War II's Greatest Kamikaze Attack
    Hell from the Heavens: The Epic Story of the USS Laffey and World War II's Greatest Kamikaze Attack
    Audiobook9 hours

    Hell from the Heavens: The Epic Story of the USS Laffey and World War II's Greatest Kamikaze Attack

    Written by John Wukovits

    Narrated by Joe Barrett

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    On the morning of April 16, 1945, the crewmen of the USS Laffey saw what seemed to be the entire Japanese air force assembled directly above. They were about to become the targets of the largest single-ship kamikaze attack of World War II.

    By the time the unprecedented assault was finished, thirty-two sailors were dead and more than seventy wounded. Although she lay shrouded in smoke and fire for hours, the Laffey somehow survived. The gutted American warship limped from Okinawa's shore for home, where the ship and crew would be celebrated as heroes.

    Using personal interviews with survivors, the memoirs of crew members, and their wartime correspondence, John Wukovits breathes life into the story of this forgotten historic event.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateApr 7, 2015
    ISBN9781494580889
    Hell from the Heavens: The Epic Story of the USS Laffey and World War II's Greatest Kamikaze Attack

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    Reviews for Hell from the Heavens

    4.5/5

    11 ratings3 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Excellent...Human stories, as well as details about the ship and war situation.
    • 5/5
      I then picked up Hell From the Heavens, by John Wukovits, 2015. It is story of USS Laffey and its fight in April,1944, when it survived being dived on by 22 Japanese kamikazes off of Okinawa. It is an excellent book and you guys out there that enjoy stories of the naval war in the PTO should thoroughly enjoy it.10/10 Will read it again sometime.
    • 4/5
      This is the story of the USS Laffey and WW I's greatest Kamikaze attack against a single vessel. Twenty- two different Japanese planes attacked the vessel in a period of 80 minutes with eight of them actually crashing into the ship or dropping a bomb on her. Wukovits commences his story with the construction of the ship followed by the selection of her captain, officers and crew. Then he moves on to her training and first experience in war on D-Day off Normandy. Following her action off the coast of France, she went to the Pacific where she took part in battles around the Philippines, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and the coast of Japan. When she was assigned picket duty off of Okinawa which put her between the Pacific Fleet and Japan, her role was to warn of kamikaze assaults that were on the way. The Japanese fliers were usually inexperienced and attacked the first vessel they spotted which in this instance was the Laffey, The Laffey gunners managed to shoot down the first eight attackers while receiving minimal damaged but eventually some planes of the twenty-two attackers made it through and that is when the episodes of heroism and death took place. Called the ship that would not die, the Laffey may be visited at the Patriots Point Maritime Museum in Charleston, NC.