Lonely Vigil cover art

Lonely Vigil

Coastwatchers of the Solomons

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Lonely Vigil

By: Walter Lord
Narrated by: Norman Dietz
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About this listen

From the best-selling author of Day of Infamy: In the bloodiest island combat of WWII, one group of men kept watch from behind Japanese lines.

The Solomon Islands was where the Allied war machine finally broke the Japanese empire. As pilots, marines, and sailors fought for supremacy in Guadalcanal, Bougainville, and the Slot, a lonely group of radio operators occupied the Solomon Islands' highest points. Sometimes encamped in comfort, sometimes exposed to the elements, these coastwatchers kept lookout for squadrons of Japanese bombers headed for Allied positions, holding their own positions even when enemy troops swarmed all around.

They were Australian-born but Solomon-raised, and adept at survival in the unforgiving jungle environment. Through daring and insight, they stayed one step ahead of the Japanese, often sacrificing themselves to give advance warning of an attack.

In Lonely Vigil, Walter Lord, the number one New York Times best-selling author of A Night to Remember and The Miracle of Dunkirk, tells of the survivors of the campaign and what they risked to win the war in the Pacific.

©1977 Walter Lord (P)2018 Tantor Armed Forces Fiction Genre Fiction Military Naval Forces War & Military World War Survival Imperial Japan

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All stars
Most relevant
This book is excellent. The legend of the Coastwatchers is brought to life with stories of their exploits.
Take the time to listen to this story. It is worth hearing.
The barrator was a tad laconic for my taste, but raising the speed to 1.2x created a superb pace of storytelling.

A pageturning story about fearless courage

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This book provides a thorough and detailed coverage of the Coastwatchers. It's extrememly well-written and covers the human side of lives of these brave souls, as well as all the factual details of their operational tasks that one could want. This certainly isn't a dry history book. The narration is also good - albeit that the narrator has something of a caricature American drawl. I'd have preferred it if I had the maps to hand, because that would have increased my understanding of the strategies. Absolutey, highly recommended.

Excellent book; great performance

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As per the title. Same for his other books. A top rate history writer. Many thanks Mr Lord.

The detail is amazing and enthraling.

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The narration of this book completely ruined it for me. I gave up listening after 2 hours. He sounded as if it was a chore for him to read it. Was he actually awake.

Who picked the narrator

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