Reviewing "All the Gallant Men" by Donald Stratton

I listened to the audiobook version of this memoir by one of the survivors from the Arizona. In All the Gallant Men: An American Sailor’s Firsthand Account of Pearl Harbor, Donald Stratton recounts the events that led him to joining the United States Navy, what happened that day of infamy of December 7, 1941, and its aftermath. Though gruesome in parts, I was surprised at how clean the prose was (this is a sailor’s memoir we’re talking about, remember), and was refreshed by the glowing patriotism. Particularly interesting was Stratton’s account of 9/11, hearing his perspective as someone who experienced one horror and lived long enough to witness another.

This book was co-written by Ken Gire. In my experience, a memoir written by one non-writer (who had the experiences) and another writer (who knows how to write them down) can easily become unbalanced: either the non-writer will be dominant, making the book feel rather sloppy and unprofessional; or the writer will be dominant, making the memoir’s events so polished as to seem fictional. All the Gallant Men strikes a decent balance: the narrative’s Voice sounds decidedly like an older veteran telling a story, but without the repetition or rabbit-trails that are usual in casual conversation and yet out-of-place in a piece of nonfiction.