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Annapolis Goes to War: The Naval Academy Class of 1940 and its Trial by Fire in World War II Audiobook
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They arrived in Annapolis as teenagers the year Hitler re-occupied the Rhineland and graduated as young men the week the British Army evacuated Dunkirk. Annapolis Goes to War tells the story of their transformative years at the Naval Academy and the annealing years in the cauldron of war. More than a hundred of them were on duty in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Ten of them died that day—seven remain entombed in the USS Arizona still. Over the next four years, these former Midshipmen participated in virtually every significant engagement in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. They were at the front edge of the war in battleships, carriers, destroyers, submarines, and airplanes, and led Marine Corps units ashore. Some experienced the war as prisoners of the Japanese. Fifty-six of them died in the Second World War, the greatest wartime loss any service academy ever experienced.
Taking listeners into and through the lives of these young men, Craig Symonds offers a poignant and powerful story of adjustment, growth, pain, loss, and eventually triumph. Using their diaries, memoirs, and letters, he evokes unforgettably their trials and bonds, their loss of innocence and their discovery of the meaning of sacrifice. Annapolis Goes to War is essential listening for anyone seeking to understand the experience of fighting the bloodiest war in human history.
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About Craig L. Symonds
Craig L. Symonds is professor emeritus at the United States Naval Academy where he taught naval history and Civil War history for thirty years. A native of Anaheim, California, he earned his BA degree at UCLA, and his master’s and PhD degrees from the University of Florida, where he studied under the late John K. Mahon. In the 1970s he was a US Navy officer and the first ensign ever to lecture at the prestigious Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. After his naval service, he remained at the War College as a civilian professor of strategy from 1974–1975.
About Stephen R. Thorne
Stephen R. Thorne, winner of multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards for narration, is a professional actor and member of the resident acting company at Providence’s esteemed Trinity Repertory Company, where he has played Hamlet, Henry V, and Tom Joad.