01Part OneThe Blip at Opana Point
Two privates saw the Pearl Harbor strike force on radar 53 minutes before the first bomb. The officer they called told them not to worry about it.
New book from War Monger & 1941 Files
The war you know.The stories you don't.
UNSUNG is 36 true Pacific War stories the history books left out: the warning nobody acted on, the enemy's side of the battle, the machines nobody thanked, and the years after the surrender that nobody filmed.
$36 · PDF + EPUB · includes the Find Your Veteran guide
Veteran in the family? Share their story, get 15% off2.9 million views across our YouTube channels
- PDF + EPUB, instant download
- 14-day money-back guarantee
- Secure checkout by Gumroad
- Any phone, tablet or computer
- 36true stories, both sides of the war
- 104archival photos & documents, each one checked
- 31maps & diagrams drawn for the book
- 36myths, and what really happened
- 298pages, plus a bonus guide
Bonus guide · included with the book
Find your veteran. Finally learn what they did.
Almost every family has one: a grandfather who never talked about it, a great-uncle in a photograph nobody can place. The Find Your Veteran guide at the back of UNSUNG shows you, step by step, how to get their actual records, even if the family has nothing but a name.
- Start at homeThe discharge paper that holds their service number, and where to find a copy if it's lost.
- Ask for the service fileExactly how to request it, what to include, and what it costs.
- If it burned in 1973The St. Louis fire destroyed about 80% of WWII Army files. Here's how they get rebuilt.
- Follow the unitMorning reports, muster rolls, deck logs and missing air crew reports: where they were, day by day.
- Search the free databasesIncluding the enlistment records of more than nine million WWII soldiers.
- If they didn't come homeThe casualty file that can hold eyewitness statements found nowhere else.
Also covers Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Japan.
From the Find Your Veteran guideFile 36-B
Branch of service
Did they come home?
StatusPick a branch
What the guide says
Everything else, from the papers at home to the unit's day-by-day records, is in the Find Your Veteran guide at the back of Unsung.
Get the book and the guide · $36A preview of the guide: pick the branch they served in to see where their records are.
The redacted parts
You know the headlines. This is what they left out.
Pearl Harbor, Midway, Iwo Jima: you've seen the documentaries. But the most astonishing parts of the war never made it into the famous version. Tap the black bars.
File: UNSUNG / 36Left out
Fifty-three minutes before the first bomb fell on Pearl Harbor, watched the whole Japanese strike force coming on radar. The officer they called told them .Chapter 1 · The Blip at Opana Point
The only bombs an enemy plane ever dropped on the mainland United States fell on . Twenty years later, the pilot came back and gave the town .Chapter 35 · The Sword in Brookings
The last soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army was found in the jungle in . He .Chapter 36 · The Last Soldier
Six of the 36 files
The people the famous battles depended on
Every chapter changes how you see something you thought you already knew. Each one stands on its own and takes about fifteen minutes to read.
01Part One
05Part OneThe Scout Who Would Not Talk
They tied him to a tree, bayoneted him and left him for dead. He chewed through the ropes and crawled to the Marines with a warning that arrived just in time.
18Part TwoThe General Who Had Seen America
He drove his own Chevrolet across the United States and wrote home that America was the last country Japan should ever fight. Then he was sent to hold Iwo Jima against it.
22Part ThreeThe Shell That Knew Where the Plane Was
Japanese pilots came home puzzled: American shells burst beside them without ever touching them. Inside each one was a tiny radio, and one of the best-kept secrets of the war.
27Part ThreeTen Gallons Every Seven Minutes
As the Lexington sank, her crew ate the ice cream before they went over the side. Three years later the Navy spent a million dollars on floating ice cream factories.
36Part FourThe Last Soldier
Nine months after Hiroo Onoda came out of the jungle, soldiers found the real last holdout of the Imperial Japanese Army. He was a man from Taiwan.
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And 30 more like these.
Test yourself
Myth or fact?
Six things people believe, or don't, about the Pacific War. Every answer is in the book.
Question 1 of 6
0 right
Radar picked up the Pearl Harbor strike force 53 minutes before the first bomb fell.
Look inside
Built like the war deserves
A full-page photograph opens every story. Inside: maps drawn for the book, the original documents, a By the Numbers panel and a Myth vs. Fact box in every chapter. Every photograph was checked against its archive record, so no wrong ships and no wrong islands.
Swipe or scroll sideways · tap a page to enlarge
From Oregon to Indonesia
Where the 36 stories happened
Tap a pin to see which stories happened there.
The contents
36 stories in four parts
Part One
The Ones Nobody Thanked
- 01The Blip at Opana PointOahu, Hawaii · 7 December 1941
- 02The Angels of BataanBataan, Corregidor & Manila · 1941 – 1945
- 03The Villages That Hid the RaidersZhejiang & Jiangxi, China · April – September 1942
- 04The Man in the DungeonPearl Harbor & Midway · December 1941 – June 1942
- 05The Scout Who Would Not TalkGuadalcanal · 20 – 21 August 1942
- 06"Did They Get Off?"Point Cruz, Guadalcanal · 27 September 1942
- 07The Man Who Knew the TideBetio, Tarawa Atoll · 20 November 1943
- 08The Pied Piper of SaipanSaipan & Tinian · June – August 1944
- 09Eight Hundred MessagesIwo Jima · February – March 1945
Part Two
What the Enemy Saw
- 10The Clerk at the ConsulateHonolulu · March – December 1941
- 11The Five Minutes That Never WereMidway · 4 June 1942 (and 1951)
- 12The Island They Named for HungerGuadalcanal · August 1942 – February 1943
- 13The Death Tokyo HidBougainville & Tokyo · 18 April – 5 June 1943
- 14A Million Men, a Hundred YearsBetio, Tarawa Atoll · September – November 1943
- 15What They Were ToldSaipan · June – July 1944
- 16The TurnOff Samar, the Philippines · 25 October 1944
- 17The Admiral Who Asked Them to DieMabalacat, the Philippines, and Tokyo · October 1944 – August 1945
- 18The General Who Had Seen AmericaIwo Jima · June 1944 – March 1945
Part Three
The Machinery Nobody Saw
- 19The Fleet That Came BackPearl Harbor · December 1941 – October 1944
- 20The Zero in the BogAkutan Island, Alaska · June – October 1942
- 21The Torpedoes That Wouldn't ExplodePearl Harbor, Australia & the Pacific · December 1941 – September 1943
- 22The Shell That Knew Where the Plane WasJohns Hopkins, Cincinnati & the Pacific · 1940 – 1945
- 23The Swamp Buggy That Crossed the ReefClearwater, Florida, to Tarawa · 1935 – 1945
- 24The LifeguardsWake, Truk, Chichi Jima & the Central Pacific · October 1943 – August 1945
- 25The Secret Harbor in the Middle of NowhereUlithi Atoll, Caroline Islands · September 1944 – 1945
- 26The Runways of TinianTinian, Mariana Islands · July 1944 – August 1945
- 27Ten Gallons Every Seven MinutesThe Coral Sea, Ulithi & Okinawa · 1942 – 1945
Part Four
After the Last Shot
- 28The White PlanesKisarazu, Ie Shima & Manila · 19 – 21 August 1945
- 29The Fortress Nobody AttackedRabaul, New Britain · January 1942 – September 1945
- 30The Fox of SaipanMount Tapochau, Saipan · July 1944 – 1 December 1945
- 31Magic CarpetThe Pacific, Europe & home · June 1945 – September 1946
- 32Six Million StrandedManchuria, the Pacific & Japan · 1945 – 1958
- 33The Woman Who Wasn't Tokyo RoseTokyo, San Francisco & Chicago · 1941 – 1977
- 34The Raider and the Flight LeaderNagoya, Tokyo & Osaka · 1942 – 1950
- 35The Sword in BrookingsBrookings, Oregon · September 1942 – 1998
- 36The Last SoldierMorotai, Indonesia, & Taiwan · September 1944 – December 1974
What you get
Everything in the file
- 36 true stories in four parts: The Ones Nobody Thanked · What the Enemy Saw · The Machinery Nobody Saw · After the Last Shot
- 104 archival photographs and documents, each checked against its archive record and credited, with archive numbers so you can look them up
- 31 maps and diagrams drawn for the book, including a map of where all 36 stories happened
- A Myth vs. Fact box in every chapter, and all 36 myths collected on one list at the back
- What happened to them: where the people in every story ended up, plus the sources behind each one
- Two editions, yours to keep: the designed PDF (298 pages, 7 × 10 in) and an EPUB for Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo and Google Play Books, where you choose the text size
Included
Bonus guide
Find Your Veteran
For anyone whose grandfather or great-uncle served, and the family never knew the details. Step by step:
- How to request a WWII service file, and what it costs
- What to do if it burned in the 1973 St. Louis fire
- Muster rolls, deck logs, morning reports and missing air crew reports
- Free databases, and records in Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Japan
Not sure yet?
Read chapter 1 free
The introduction, the map of all 36 stories and the complete first chapter, The Blip at Opana Point. 19 pages, free.
Get the free chapter (PDF)The complete book
UNSUNG
36 Pacific War stories the history books left out. 298 pages, 104 archival photographs, 31 maps and diagrams, and the Find Your Veteran guide.
$36One payment, yours to keep.
That's $1 a story, plus the guide.
Get my copy · $36
That's $1 a story, plus the guide.
Checkout opens very soon. Until then, read chapter 1 free.
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14-day money-back guarantee. If UNSUNG isn't for you, email us within 14 days and we'll refund you in full. No questions asked.
The gift for the history lover
Know someone who watches every WWII documentary?
A father who never misses one. A grandfather who served, or whose father did. UNSUNG is the stories they haven't heard yet, and the Find Your Veteran guide at the back can help a family finally find out what their veteran did.
How to send it: at checkout, tick “Give as a gift”, enter their email and add a personal message. They get the book and your note straight away, with no shipping and no waiting.
Send it as a gift · $36Who made it
From two channels you already watch
We make videos about the Pacific War, and the stories our viewers remember and argue about in the comments are almost never the famous ones retold. They're the parts that got left out. This book is 36 of them.
Questions
Before you buy
Is this a printed book?
No. UNSUNG is an ebook in two formats: a designed PDF, and an EPUB that reflows to fit any screen. Gumroad emails you the download link straight after you buy, and both files are yours to keep.
Can I read it on my Kindle?
Yes. Send the EPUB to your Kindle with Amazon's free Send to Kindle, by email, app or website, and it appears in your Kindle library. The EPUB also opens in Apple Books, Kobo and Google Play Books.
Is it the same as your videos?
No. Some chapters grew out of our most-requested videos and go much further, with maps, photographs and sources a video has no room for. Many are stories we've never covered at all.
Are the photos real?
Yes. Every photograph was checked against its archive record, shows what its caption says it shows, and is credited. Where an archive number exists, it's printed with the picture.
How do I pay?
Checkout is handled by Gumroad, which takes cards and other common payment methods and adds any sales tax or VAT that applies where you live. We never see your card details.
What if I don't like it?
Email us within 14 days and we'll refund you in full. See the refund policy.
Can I give it as a gift?
Yes. At checkout, tick “Give as a gift”, enter the recipient's email and add a message. They receive the book and your note by email right away.
Can I read a chapter first?
Yes. Read chapter 1 free, no sign-up needed.
36 files. One war.
The war you know.
The stories you don't.
298 pages, 104 archival photographs, 31 maps and diagrams, a Myth vs. Fact box in every chapter, and a guide to finding your own family's veteran.
Get my copy · $36- PDF + EPUB, instant download
- 14-day money-back guarantee
- Secure checkout by Gumroad