Fields of battle : Pearl Harbor, the Rose Bowl, and the boys who went to war / Brian Curtis.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A riveting and emotional tale of the boys who played in the 1942 Rose Bowl and then served on the WWII battlefields--a story of football, wartime, and boys becoming men.

In the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the 1942 Rose Bowl was moved from Pasadena to Durham, North Carolina, out of fear of Japanese attacks on the West Coast. It remains the only Rose Bowl game to ever be played outside of Pasadena. Duke University, led by legendary coach Wallace Wade Sr., faced off against underdog Oregon State College, with both teams preparing for a grueling fight on the football field while their thoughts wandered to the battlefields they would soon be on.

As the players and coaches prepared for the game, America was preparing for war. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met to discuss the Allied strategy in Europe; a discussion that would change the lives of the boys and men on the field in Durham.

Finally, on New Year's Day 1942, under dark gray skies and occasional rain, the two teams clashed on the gridiron in front of a crowd of 56,000, playing one of the most unforgettable games in history. Shortly afterward, many of the players and coaches entered the military and would quickly become brothers on the battlefield. Scattered around the globe, the lives of Rose Bowl participants would intersect in surprising ways, as they served in Iwo Jima and Normandy, Guadalcanal and the Battle of the Bulge. Four players from that Rose Bowl game would lose their lives, while many more were severely wounded. In one powerful encounter on the battlefield, OSC's Frank Parker saved the life of Duke's Charles Haynes as he lay dying on a hill in Italy. And one OSC player, Jack Yoshihara, a Japanese-American, never had the chance to play in the game or serve his country, as he was sent to an internment camp in Idaho.

In this riveting an emotional tale, Brian Curtis sheds light on a little-known slice of American history and captures in gripping detail an intimate account of the teamwork, grit, and determination that took place on both the football fields and the battlefields of World War II. It was a game created by infamy and a war fought by ordinary boys who did the extraordinary.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Prologue (p. 1)
• Part I The Men
• 1 The Making of" a Coach (p. 9)
• 2 A New Kingdom (p. 18)
• 3 Country Boys (p. 36)
• Part II The Winds of War
• 4 A Warning (p. 51)
• 5 A Team of Destiny (p. 60)
• 6 Infamy (p. 76)
• 7 The Beaver Express (p. 97)
• Part III A Game Like no Other
• 8 A Rose Is Still a Rose (p. 117)
• 9 A New Opponent (p. 131)
• 10 Shikata Ga Nai (p. 145)
• Part IV War
• 11 The First (p. 161)
• 12 Campus at War (p. 172)
• 13 An Ordinary Hero (p. 181)
• 14 Cup of Coffee (p. 199)
• 15 Uncommon Valor (p. 213)
• Part V Home
• 16 The New Normal (p. 235)
• 17 The Last Days (p. 251)
• Epilogue (p. 265)
• Postgame Biographies (p. 267)
• Acknowledgments (p. 271)
• Notes (p. 277)
• Resources (p. 289)
• Index (p. 295)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Curtis (Go Long!) is familiar with both sports and history, having written for Sports Illustrated and Fox Sports among other outlets. This latest book, at least to begin with, is about college football, specifically the Rose Bowl, which has been played every year since 1902 on New Year's Day in Pasadena, CA. The game is now one of the most preeminent college football games of the year. Curtis does a fine job describing the history of the Rose Bowl through the years, including the addition of a parade. The bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941 resulted in the 1942 Rose Bowl, between Oregon State and Duke University, being held in Durham, NC. Later chapters hurriedly shift from the gridiron to the battlefield, creating a close-up of the World War II battles and journeys of the players from the 1942 game. One wonders if the author chose the subject of this book because of the anomalous rescheduling of the game. Although there were heroic moments described, there is nothing distinguishing these men from anyone else from their era. VERDICT As football season fast approaches, recommend this title to college football fans who love their history. World War II buffs might not have the patience or desire to sift through the early play by play.-Keith Klang, Port Washington P.L., NY © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

In this remarkable book, Curtis masterfully connects two seemingly unrelated events: the 1942 Rose Bowl and WWII. On New Year's Day in 1942, the Rose Bowl game between Duke and Oregon State was played, not in Pasadena, California too near the West Coast but in Durham, North Carolina, thanks to lobbying efforts to save the game, led by Wallace Wade, Duke's coach. Sports Illustrated writer Curtis convincingly makes his case for the game being the greatest metaphor for American grit and determination that the country had ever seen. The story extends beyond the field to the personal lives of the players, many of whom served heroically in the war. Perhaps the most moving of the stories Curtis recounts is that of Duke player Charles Haynes, whose life was saved by Frank Parker, a former footballer at Oregon State, who rescued Haynes after a serious injury left him badly wounded on an Italian battleground. Haynes and Parker met at the game's fiftieth reunion, the first time they had seen each other since 1945. This book has much in common with Laura Hillenbrand's best-selling Unbroken (2014) and should evoke similar strong emotions.--Levine, Mark Copyright 2016 Booklist