And I Was There: Pearl Harbor and Midway--Breaking the Secrets

by Edwin T. Layton, Roger Pineau, John Edmond Costello

Book Overview

The late Admiral Layton, who was the fleet intelligence officer for Admiral Nimitz through out World War II, describes the breakdown in the intelligence process prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688048838
• ISBN13: 9780688048839
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 596 Pages
• Weight: 2.55 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Navy coverup for their Pearl Harbor incompetence

And I was there.This is a great book by one who was there, Adm Layton. He was Adm Kimmels intelligence officer at Pearl Harbor.He shows how the incompetence of the Navy in Washington led to the surprise attack at Pearl, by the Navy, specifically adm Stark and Kelly Turner, not giving Pearl the vital information they had about Jap intentions, but refused to give Pearl. The Navy also had 2 intelligence groups fighting for the information, and control, evaluating, and dissemination of the information. This too sabotaged the intelligence efforts, and does to this day.Gen Marshall is also responsible for the debacle. He was reprimanded, but Roosevelt set aside the Congressional verdict on him. Kimmel was judged not guilty of any wrongdoing by the Navy, but found derelict by Congress, a tragic miscarriage of justice, due to lies under testimony by Stark, and Turner.The Redmon brothers are faulted too for ousting the most brilliant Navy intelligence officer, Rochefort, who correctly guessed the time and location of the Midway battle.Another tragic aftermath of Pearl, was the loss of Wake Island. Kimmel had a carrier task force sailing to resupply and relieve the garrision that was under attack by the Japs. This would have surprised the Japs and could have sunk many Jap ships, saved Wake Island, and kept open the supply lines to the Phillipines. Unfortunaely, Kimmel was relieved, and Adm Pye replaced him Pye lost his nerve and cancelled the mission.MacArthur is noted, as being in charge of the Phillipines, and being under orders to attack Formosa with his B17's when Pearl was attacked. He had a 9 hour warning after Pearl had been attacked, and had been told to attack. It was not until years after this book was published that the records of why Mac did nothing in the Phillipines were found. He was paid $650,000 by Pres Quezon of the Phillipines to do nothing, as he wanted to be neutral. MacArthur lost the Phillipines, a far more important strategic outpost than Pearl, as well as half the B17's we had, and 1/5 of our fighters, on the ground, just as what happened at Pearl, only 9 hours later, after he had multiple phone calls from Washington to attack the Japs.The battle of Guadalcanal and other Pacific battles is also gone into in some detail It was Nimitz, not Mac Arthur that devised the island hopping idea. A great book by a hero who was there.

A real eye opener!

Before you jump on some revisionist books about Pearl Harbor, like Stinnet's Day of Deceipt, you should get it from the horses mouth! Layton, et al, tell a little known side of the war in the pacific. His opinions of some famous naval personalities like Stark and R.K. Turner will really have you thinking about how war is run when powerful, ambitious officers are running the show. It's a shame that lives had to be wasted while the U.S. got its act together to finally win the war in the pacific, but Layton's tale will give you a new perspective and supports much of what was previously written, like Prang's "At Dawn We Slept", about the debacle of Pearl Harbor and the genius that followed at Midway. Buy it!

FINALLY! The truth about Pearl Harbor, Coral Sea and Midway

FINALLY WE ARE TOLD! From the Man in the know! From the Intellegence Officer of Admirals Kimmel and Nimitz; the truth about the Japanese "blunder" at Pearl Harbor, the truth about the Battle of Coral Sea, the truth about the internal Navy battle over the impending Battle of Midway and the march across the Pacific with never before released Naval Intellegence details.In this spellbinder Layton breaks his sacred oath as a Navy Officer to reveal how incompetency, infighting and persuit of personal gain at high ranks allowed the Pearl Harbor "surprise" to occur, greatly prolonged the Pacific War and brought the Allied Forces to the brink of defeat in the Pacific. Layton reveals in chilling detail how Pearl Harbor Commanders Admiral Kimmel and General Short were made scapegoats and cashiered in disgrace, how the Fleet's Carrier task force sortied days after the bombing but was recalled out of fear, how Admiral Nimitz was forced to commit conspiracy and treason to get the 5th Fleet to Midway in time for battle. Layton exposes a secret vandetta by Washington Commanders against Pearl Harbor Intellegence personnel that caused a Japanese cipher change and the terrible effects of the lengthy intellegence "blackout" it caused at the most critical point in the War. Layton shatters recorded history with a cronological portrayance of documented events as he lived them, by the side of the Navy Admirals who despite incredible odds, heavy losses and fierce opposition led Allied Forces to victory in the Pacific. This Book is a "must read" for all! This Author's story must not be forgotten! At some risk with personal sacrifice, with violation of Oath, at the end of his life with no possible personal gain his last and greatest service to this great Country was a grave warning to us all; World War Two showed us the stratigic advantage of airpower and of the Naval Aircraft Carrier. This "portable" airbase brought enormous destructive power to our enemies shore and allowed us to attack his facilities and installations with relative ease. With the modern atom bomb and ICBM the Continents become the bases from which total distruction unparalleled and swift can be wroght upon any Continant with relative ease. Beware, this is what did happen, this is what can happen, this is what will happen again if we forget! A Thermoneucular Pearl Harbor, surprise we're gone!

Shocking revisions on the events at Pearl Harbor and Midway.

Layton who was head of MI for the Pacific fleet during WWII decided, near the end of his life, to reveal the true facts on how we got surprised by the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor and who deserves credit for setting up the Pacific fleet's great naval victory at Midway. Here you read for the first time about some of the major failings of Marshal and McArthur -mistakes that migh well have brought charges of dereliction of duty. Clearly, there were acts of inter-service rivalry at play that put the nation's war effort at risk and which elevated some officers careers while destroying others. This book is a blockbuster!

From Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay, Admiral Layton was there

This is a good read. Rear Admiral Edwin T. Layton, USN (Ret.), was at Pearl Harbor at the time of the Japanese attack. Between Pearl Harbor and the Japanese surrender, he served on the staff of Admiral Chester Nimitz as one of his intelligence aides. His other one was Commander Joseph Rochefort. It was on Rochefort's hunch that the Japanese naval code, Purple, was broken. Rochefort had a hunch that the Japanese abbreviation "AF" was Midway. On this, Nimitz ordered a message sent to Midway telling them to send a message that their desalinization plant was down. When Midway received the order from Nimitz, their reaction was that Nimitz had to be crazy. It was sent and the Japanese sent "AF doesn't have any fresh water." Nimitz knew he had them and ordered a fleet- opposed invasion. The carrier Yorktown limped into Pearl Harbor and was fixed up and sent out to rendezvous with the Enterprise and the Hornet at a point west of Midway code-named "Point Luck." Washington thought Nimitz was crazy because the Redmans, brothers who were in naval intelligence, said that the West Coast, and not Midway, was the real target. Nimitz knew better. In the end, Joe Rochefort, and not the Redmans, was proven correct.