War Is Not Just for Heroes: World War II Dispatches and Letters of U.S. Marine Corps Combat Correspondent Claude R. "Red" Canup

by Linda M. Canup Keaton-Lima, Keith Oliver (Foreword by)

Overview

Firsthand accounts of war in the Pacific theater from an intrepid reporter of World War II combat

War Is Not Just for Heroes rescues the incredible true stories of US Marine Corps. Written by one marine, Claude R. "Red" Canup, a combat correspondent in the Pacific during World War II, these dispatches and private letters provide insight into the grind of war and ordinary men and women who carried out their duty. Thoughtfully edited and contextualized by a preface and prologue by his daughter, Linda M. Canup Keaton-Lima, War Is Not Just for Heroes combines documentary and biography to provide the human dimensions of those in combat and those who reported out.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781643364865
Publisher:	University of South Carolina Press
Publication date:	03/07/2024
Pages:	286
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.75(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Linda M. Canup Keaton-Lima is a native of Anderson, South Carolina, and holds a PhD from Clemson University. She worked for more than thirty years in public schools and community colleges of South Carolina and North Carolina.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Foreword xi

Preface: Lest We Forget Denig's Demons xv

Acknowledgments xxv

Prologue: The Cardboard Box 1

Part 1 Answering the Commandant's Call

1 Red Canup, Combat Correspondent 11

2 From Sidelines to Shorelines 15

3 Letters before Ulithi: June-September 1944 19

Part 2 Ulithi

4 Tojo's Front Yard: September 9-October 15, 1944 33

5 Marine Aircraft Group 45: October-December 1944 38

6 New Year, Same Rock: January-February 1945 73

Part 3 Okinawa

7 MAG 31 and Tactical Air Force Ryukyus (I): April 3-May 12, 1945 93

8 Bunker Hill Pilots: May 12-13, 1945 122

9 Black Macs Killers: Yontan Airfield, May 1945 130

10 Giretsu Attack on Yontan: May 24, 1945 139

11 MAG 31 and Tactical Air Force Ryukyus (II): May 15-July 7, 1945 147

12 Chimu Airfield: July 1-September 7, 1945 181

Part 4 Japan

13 Occupation Duty Calls: September 7-16, 1945 203

14 Prisoners of War: September 16, 1945 215

15 30-: October-November 14, 1945 224

16 The "Ruptured Duck" Flies Home: November 15-December 25, 1945 238

Glossary 241

Sources 251

Index 253

What People are Saying About This

Charles P. Neimeyer

The Marine Corps historical program owes a debt of gratitude to Linda Keaton-Lima for bringing to light an invaluable treasure trove of wartime material and commentary from her late father, Marine combat correspondent Claude 'Red' Canup. As an eyewitness to the war in the Pacific, Canup, a successful former small-town newspaperman, made sure that his dispatches kept the homefolks informed as to what was going on with 'their' Marines 'somewhere in the Pacific.' If legendary World War II combat correspondent Ernie Pyle is known today as the G.I Joe reporter, then Red Canup deserves similar recognition for his coverage of Marines. I highly recommend this remarkable collection of observations and dispatches to all serious students of World War II history.

J. Lowe Davis

War Is Not Just for Heroes is fascinating, true-life storytelling. Using his famously sharp wit and homespun style, Red Canup showed the people back home the war as it was experienced by ordinary men and women, not by celebrated heroes. This book itself is a heroic work by Canup's daughter who devoted years to compiling her father's original war dispatches and masterfully arranging them into a narrative that reads like a novel.

Jim Lehrer

Red Canup was the real deal—a real marine, a real reporter. That combination made him the premier chronicler of the real world of World War II combat for the marine aviators who went into the skies over the Pacific. His daughter has collected and curated Red's individual marine stories to tell the bigger story of what it was like for those brave men who attacked, defended, and died. This is a terrific book.

Capt. Jack T. Paxton

Red Canup's 398 dispatches from the Pacific make him one of the most prolific combat correspondents in U.S. Marine Corps history. He personified the Marine Corps combat reporting ethos of keeping the families at home aware of their sons' exploits. War Is Not Just for Heroes is a not only a great read but a historical find!

Jason Robbins

Readers and moviegoers long have thrilled to the epic glories and tragedies of World War II. In War Is Not Just For Heroes, Red Canup tells his own stories of the war, written as the events of the Pacific theater still were unfolding. Red's war correspondent reports and letters paint a human-sized picture of the conflict that only rarely appears among the sweeping accounts that fill our shelves, but that perspective is as moving and inspiring as the most spectacular Technicolor portrayals. Red's words, collected lovingly and artfully by his daughter, present the war in ways the reader can virtually touch, taste and feel — his descriptions range from food to fighting, family to fleas.

Laura Homan Lacey

What a delightful story and addition to both marine and marine aviation history. War Is Not Just for Heroes has real human appeal.

Richard B. Frank

This account brings out at the nuts and bolts level, a significant but now largely forgotten component of the whole American attitude toward the war and those who fought it.

Editorial Reviews

"War Is Not Just for Heroes is fascinating, true-life storytelling. Using his famously sharp wit and homespun style, Red Canup showed the people back home the war as it was experienced by ordinary men and women, not by celebrated heroes. This book itself is a heroic work by Canup's daughter who devoted years to compiling her father's original war dispatches and masterfully arranging them into a narrative that reads like a novel."

--J. Lowe Davis, Pulitzer Prize-winning executive editor of The Virgin Islands Daily News


"This account brings out at the nuts and bolts level, a significant but now largely forgotten component of the whole American attitude toward the war and those who fought it."

--Richard B. Frank, author of Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire


"Red Canup was the real deal--a real marine, a real reporter. That combination made him the premier chronicler of the real world of World War II combat for the marine aviators who went into the skies over the Pacific. His daughter has collected and curated Red's individual marine stories to tell the bigger story of what it was like for those brave men who attacked, defended, and died. This is a terrific book."

--Jim Lehrer, executive editor and anchor, PBS, and past recipient of the USMC Combat Correspondents Association Brig. Gen. Robert L. Denig Distinguished Service Award


"What a delightful story and addition to both marine and marine aviation history. War Is Not Just for Heroes has real human appeal."

--Laura Homan Lacey, author of Stay off the Skyline: The Sixth Marine Division on Okinawa


"The Marine Corps historical program owes a debt of gratitude to Linda Keaton-Lima for bringing to light an invaluable treasure trove of wartime material and commentary from her late father, Marine combat correspondent Claude 'Red' Canup. As an eyewitness to the war in the Pacific, Canup, a successful former small-town newspaperman, made sure that his dispatches kept the homefolks informed as to what was going on with 'their' Marines 'somewhere in the Pacific.' If legendary World War II combat correspondent Ernie Pyle is known today as the G.I Joe reporter, then Red Canup deserves similar recognition for his coverage of Marines. I highly recommend this remarkable collection of observations and dispatches to all serious students of World War II history."

--Charles P. Neimeyer, director and chief, USMC History Division


"Readers and moviegoers long have thrilled to the epic glories and tragedies of World War II. In War Is Not Just For Heroes, Red Canup tells his own stories of the war, written as the events of the Pacific theater still were unfolding. Red's war correspondent reports and letters paint a human-sized picture of the conflict that only rarely appears among the sweeping accounts that fill our shelves, but that perspective is as moving and inspiring as the most spectacular Technicolor portrayals. Red's words, collected lovingly and artfully by his daughter, present the war in ways the reader can virtually touch, taste, and feel--his descriptions range from food to fighting, family to fleas."


--Jason Robbins, publisher, Daily News Publishing Co.


"Red Canup's 398 dispatches from the Pacific make him one of the most prolific combat correspondents in U.S. Marine Corps history. He personified the Marine Corps combat reporting ethos of keeping the families at home aware of their sons' exploits. War Is Not Just for Heroes is a not only a great read but a historical find!"


--Capt. Jack T. Paxton, USMC (Ret.), executive director, USMC Combat Correspondents Association

From the Publisher