Hell for Honshu: An Army Air Corps Navigator Tells the Story of the World War II Bombing Raids on Japan Paperback – Illustrated, November 20, 2007

I was interested in this book due to the fact that my dad was assigned to the 73rd Bomb Wing, Saipan, during WWII. Reading excellent books such as this one, gives me insight into the world that my dad and Mr. Nelson and friends lived, fought through and survived. Many did not. My dad did not speak much about his time there and passed away suddenly in 1987. Thank you Larry Nelson for sharing your experiences and for giving me a better understanding of my dad! I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in military history, the US Army Air Corp and particularly, those interested in or associated with the incredible Boeing B-29, Very Heavy Bomber! It truly was as much a "super weapon," of it's day as the B-2 is today! ~ Jim Allen

I just finished reading "Hell for Honshu" by Larry Nelson.I know his son, Dan. Dan, your dad is a real hero! What a great book. What a great story. He must be very proud of you. No wonder you like math so much! (Dan's a rocket scientist.) I had a lot of fun reading it and almost cried at several points. The fire-bombings really choked me up, the loss of his friend's plane off the coast of Japan when he couldn't get a good enough navigation reading and they couldn't get the gas from the 2 shot out engines to the 2 remaining good ones... man, wow. Just wow.Funny. Gut wrenching. Real. Read this book!

Mr. Nelson gives insight to the non-veteran of the emotional contrasts of war. The hard work of training. The joy of accomplishment. The sorrow of seeing friends washout. The boredom of waiting. The sacredness of making lifelong friends. The eternal hole their deaths leave in us. And the ultimate futility and destruction of war itself as a human activity in which many are engaged by the few who make decisions over the lives of others.The book is well written in beautiful simplicity and allows the reader to look into the heart of one warrior who represents many others. The Greatest Generation

Great Historical Book!

A friend lent me this book and it was enlightening. I do a lot of WW2 reading and even wrote a book about the war in the Pacific from the home view. This book, which was very basic, meaning detailed about implements of war, sounded true, which I'm sure it was. It was a personalized account of Larry Nelsons time in the Army Air Corps during WW2. Happenings and the friends he made and lost are touchingly given their due. Larry was not a hero, or maybe he was, but so were thousands of others bearing the weight of the fight in the pacific. In the European theater there was some sympathy although not much from the enemy. In the pacific there was not even a whim of guilt on the part of the Japanese soldiers. Nelson does not point this out, he even feel remorse for the devastation inflicted by his squadron on Tokyo and other cities in Japan. Whether this is a reflection in later life (book dictated in 2007) we'll never know, but Nelson and his buddies who took the war to the enemy were truly a heroic species whether they wanted to be or not.

I read this book shortly after it was published, then I loaned it to cousins and others with whom I exchanged letters during that period (Nov 1944-July 1945). I think that this is the most honest description of the training and the missions that I have ever read. Whenever you start to recall the events of nearly 70 years ago, it sometimes becomes difficult to separate fact from fiction. I am sure Larry and I attended the same breifing for the first mission and we both remembered it in the same way.

Hell for Honshu by Larry Nelson is a good read. I read it aloud to my husband (who is legally blind) and he also was on B-29s flying over Japan. He understood every word of it and had many of the same reactions. Not a pretty story, but every detail was right on!