Sailors to the End: The Deadly Fire on the USS Forrestal and the Heroes Who Fought It [Hardcover]

Freeman carefully explains how safety measures were overridden, causing a rocket from one on-deck fighter to be fired into another. More importantly, he shows how the Navy was using long-outdated bombs left over from before WWII in order to make it seem as if the administration had enough bombs to fight the Vietnam War. Not only were the bombs outdated, but they became touchy and more unsafe as the years passed. Beling knew of the problem, and insisted that he needed better bombs; but he had a job to do, and the old ones were the only ones he was going to get to do it. Newer bombs could stand a lot of heat, and the old ones could not. Much sooner than anyone expected, one of the bombs blew up, a thousand pounds of explosive impacting at zero range. Of the 35 crewmembers nearby, 27 were killed instantly or got fatal injuries, and among this number were the expert firefighting team. It was merely the start of the larger disaster, for eight more of the old bombs were to go off. Most of the crew below decks thought that enemy bombers had found the _Forrestal_ and were attacking.

There are horrific and at times inspiring stories are told here with enormous sympathy for men pushed beyond all limits. Slowly the large fire was brought under control, although for days afterwards there might be rekindled fires to fight. The rear of the ship was so torn up that access could only come by lowering sailors into the compartments, and bodies were still being found weeks after the fire. The ship limped home to Norfolk. Freeman explains the aftermath of the disaster and the ruination of Beling's career, but more importantly explains how it affected the many other veterans he interviewed. The voluminous reports on the disaster neglected the importance of the faulty bombs but placed most of the blame on the firefighting deficiencies of the crew, a point of view emphasized in the firefighting training all sailors now get. This has been an unfair burden surviving crewmembers have had to bear, but Freeman has found that they are still proud of their service and of their ship, which was decommissioned in 1993, having seen a total of those four days in combat during her entire time at sea. The veterans want to turn her into a museum. The 134 men who died have their names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and those whose bodies were never recovered have a monument near the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington. Now, too, they have an unforgettable volume that in recounting the horrors and the heroism of the incident will be among their most lasting and fitting monuments.

Give Freeman credit right off the bat for not attempting to cash in on the celebrity interest potential of then-navy pilot John McCain's narrow escape by unjustly playing up McCain's involvement. In Freeman's story, McCain is just one more survivor, and one who made it out with only minor injuries. The real story is one of a preventable trajedy, and Freeman does not shy away from the laying the blame for the disaster where it belongs, on the political leadership of the time and on the navy bureaucracy.

Freeman's account of the fire itself and resulting ordinance explosions as seen through the eyes of the survivors is absolute riveting. He strikes just the right tone, relaying the horrible events without sensationalizing them. The book's title come from a particularly poignant moment in which three trapped sailors uncomplainingly performed a final vital duty for their shipmates even as they knew they were about to die. Theirs is just one of the many incredible stories that Freeman has unearthed.

Overall, "Sailors to the End" is an expertly written work of military history that should appeal to both military buffs as well as to general readers.