This Is War
One Sailor’s True Story of Survival in the South Pacific During WWII
by
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The plane was sweeping from side to side while firing the machine guns at our ship. I swear to this day, I saw the pilot’s face. Just before he hit, I knew I couldn't do anything. I screamed, “Get that Son of a Bitch”! I saw that the crash was inevitable and I flopped down on the steel deck as the kamikaze barreled into us. The explosion threw me up into the air and slammed me back down onto the deck. Gasoline blew up; the plane took the smokestack and everything else right off the deck. The bomb in the plane also went down below and exploded. I looked up and I’ll never forget this for the rest of my life; I saw nothing but fire, black and red… I tried to save myself by jumping off of the After Deck House and onto the main deck of the fantail... More explosions occurred and I somehow wound up in the ocean.…Everybody from the After Deck House was blown into the water with me. There were probably forty or fifty guys in the water. I swam over to one of our small landing crafts but when I got on it, it sunk. My life jacket wasn't tied because I didn't have time to tie it before we got hit... There were still ships around us so we eventually got picked up by a Yard Mine Sweeper that came over to rescue us. The sailors on that ship threw me a rope as big around as my pinky finger…it was a clothesline. I grabbed it, wrapping it around my arm, but I would keep sliding down because I was all wet and the line was too thin. I couldn't climb up, even to save my own life. All the guys on the ship were yelling to me to climb up, but I just couldn't. All of a sudden, a big burly guy walked down the deck yelling for the other guys to get out of the way. He grabbed the rope and pulled me up with ease, as if I had the weight of a baby and dropped me down on the deck. I looked at him and said, “Jesus, thanks a lot buddy”. Hand over hand he had pulled me up. I was soaking wet and had lost my shoes in the explosion, but I had my life jacket on; the life jacket that saved my life. That was also the reason that I was without shoes for a while, but that story comes later.
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About the Book
Arcangelo “Sonny” Parisi grew up in New Haven, Connecticut, and as the eldest brother of eight siblings, he spent a lot of time protecting his family.
There were plenty of fights with bullies and the Irish police, but he didn’t let that stop him from running the streets, stealing food, and seeking out adventure. From an early age, he learned to rely on himself and his Italian-American instincts for survival, which served him well when he was drafted into World War II and sent to the South Pacific.
Told by his granddaughter, this life story of a courageous sailor celebrates Parisi’s many achievements – from surviving the Great Depression as a youth, to marrying the love of his life, serving his country, and later becoming a mechanic. His life story is proof that no matter how big or small the goal, determination achieves results, whether it’s fixing a car or surviving a war.
About the Author
Valeria Ann Carrano grew up in Madison, Connecticut, and always enjoyed listening to her grandfather’s stories about World War II. She is a cum laude graduate from Northeastern University with a dual degree in journalism and modern languages. She is the communications director for Exclusive Cruises, a yacht charter agency, and divides her time between Italy and the United States.