Table of Contents

List of Maps
List of Illustrations
Foreword by CDR Curtis R. Dosé , USNR (Ret)

Introduction
1: Operation Watchtower
2: Battle of the Eastern Solomons
3: The Cactus Air Force
4: Green Hell
5: Marine Aviation’s Finest Hour
6: All In
7: The End of the Beginning
8: Whistling Death
9: Pappy Gunn and the Sunsetters
10: Pearl Harbor Avenged
11: Jay Zeamer’s Eager Beavers
12: Reinforcement
13: The Surprise was Absolute
14: Bloody Tuesday
15: The Jolly Rogers
16: Sixty-One Days
17: Finale in the South Pacific

Bibliography
Index

Promotional Information

A vivid narrative history of the Solomons and New Guinea campaigns of World War II, which represented key turning points in the U.S. Navy's campaign against the Japanese in the Pacific.

About the Author

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver has been a published writer for the past 40 years. He was a regular contributor to Flight Journal magazine. He has had a lifelong interest in the Korean War and this work is the product of 25 years of research. He is the author of Aces of the 78th Fighter Group and F4F and F6F Aces of VF-2, as well as Fabled Fifteen: The Pacific War Saga of Carrier Air Group 15 and The Bridgebusters: The True Story of the Catch-22 Bomb Group. During his 30 years as a screenwriter in Hollywood, he wrote the cult classic The Terror Within and worked as a supervising producer on a number of TV and cable series. He served in the US Navy in Vietnam.

Reviews

Cleaver skillfully weaves individual narratives from both Allied and Japanese combatants into the overall story … the reader will come away having a greater understanding of the Pacific Theater as a whole, as well as a renewed appreciation for the courage and skill of both Allied and Japanese combatants in that grueling campaign.
*Lynn Ritger, Aviation Historian*

Thomas Cleaver, whose ‘war stories’ we have come to cherish, has a new one ... a riveting and powerful saga, one rendered vividly, trenchantly, and with empathy – for both sides in the conflict.
*Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Former Chief of Staff to General Colin Powell*

Under the Southern Cross offers a micro-macro history of the South Pacific campaign of 1942–44, shifting from cockpit and flag bridge perspectives to broad strategy. The Guadalcanal campaign especially remains of interest because so much was at stake and the opponents were so evenly matched for a sanguinary six months. Tom Cleaver does right by the subject in this book.
*Barrett Tillman, Author of 'On Wave and Wing: The 100-Year Quest to Perfect the Aircraft Carrier'*

Recommended for anyone fascinated by aviation's role in World War Two.
*Flypast*

This is a useful account of the air campaign against Rabaul, bringing together the efforts of the US Marines, USAAF and the US Navy’s carrier aircraft, all of which played a part in the campaign, and which are often seen in isolation.
*Historyofwar.org*

This is an absorbing story that deserves the wider audience it will undoubtedly receive.
*Wargames Illustrated*