Harm's Way Quotes

“The thought of Broderick’s reluctance to invoke a command decision caused Torrey to writhe angrily on the sweaty hospital bed. How many golden opportunities missed, he wondered, had actually extended the war? How many more paltry sequences of “minimum casualties” would have to be played before the foe was brought to heel?”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“Captain Tuthill opined nastily that even a Hollywood scenarist ought to be able to come up with something funnier than that.”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“task force was still lurking in the vicinity. No. They’d be a lot more apt to pull a typical Nip stunt—running their carriers north as a decoy to entice the Americans away from the beachhead, which they could then overwhelm with easy impunity and in their own sweet time.”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“The considerable distance between Mrs. Greenough and the commodore of LST Squadron Baker constituted, in his jaundiced eyes, one of the few plus aspects of a billet that had all the charm of straw-bossing a WPA sewer gang.”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“This whole scene, Torrey thought glumly, was more reminiscent of some weirdly disorganized menagerie than an array of fighting ships.”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“HMAS Diadem might have been something left over from Dewey’s triumph at Manila Bay.”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“to know Eddington as well as he did, and to be aware that his outward assurance was like the deceptive brick shell of a burnt-out building which masks the gutted blackness inside.”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“Son, there are only two honest-to-God combat jobs in this man’s war. Rifleman and fighter pilot. The rest of us are nothing but spear carriers in the back row.”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“When they reached the admittance shack, The Rock paused, uncertain how he should explain that he wished to see Lieutenant Haynes alone. But a lifetime spent with inarticulate Service patients had given Captain Tully vast powers of divination, and he withdrew before he was asked.”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“Whenever Torrey spoke nowadays, men listened deferentially, as if the mere fact of his admiralship had imbued him overnight with a cosmic wisdom denied lesser beings.”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“Paul Eddington, he mused, was not unlike Porthos in Alexandre Dumas’ adventure—that gnarled and hulking musketeer who died a hero’s death before the tale was done.”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“The going price is five bucks Americain. If you get drunk enough they’re worth it.”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“Only ten thousand men were scheduled to go ashore on Gavabutu. But it took seventy thousand others to get them there, feed them, provide fresh ammunition, refuel their airplanes, heal their wounds—and plan their daily destinies while they lived.”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“Ironically amused, The Rock watched him glide across the big porch toward the girl. She was surrounded by four grinning officers. Since none of them were Navy, Powell’s chances were excellent.”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“Clustered in small groups, from fighting top to firerooms, the cruiser’s 1,267 officers and men listened to the grave, mellow resonant voice.”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“He fought to stay awake by contrasting this pretentious fool with other officers he’d known during his seven years in the Service, and especially those who inculcated in him that warm band-of-brothers feeling which had sustained navymen ever since Nelson’s time.”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“like an unwanted cur.”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“Bandit One”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“plunging into twenty thousand fathoms”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“pondering John Paul Jones’ nautical appeal when they reached the quarterdeck. Old Swayback was a singularly inappropriate vessel in which to hang such a motto,”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“automatic pistol”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“Something the Duke of Wellington once wrote to a nagging War Secretary popped into his head: “My lord, if I attempted to answer the mass of futile correspondence that surrounds me, I should be debarred from all serious business of campaigning.” Then the doughty general had concluded with more asperity than tact: “So long as I retain an independent position, I shall see that no officer under my command is debarred by attending to the futile driveling of mere quill driving in Your Lordship’s office — from attending to his first duty — which is, and always has been, so to train the private men under his command that they may, without question, beat any force opposed to them”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“the difference between a halo and a noose is only twelve inches.”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“Twenty-nine thousand yards,” he said with reluctant professional admiration in his tone. “And goddamn big splashes,” Tuthill added “— from eighteen-inch rifles.” “Yamato!” Torrey shrugged philosophically. “We’ve drawn the jackpot, Tut.”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way

“They watched him depart, silently, and with a peculiar dignity. But his ramrod back seemed bowed for the first time from weariness that came more from the spirit than from his overtaxed physique. Nobody spoke for a moment after the blackout curtains dropped into place. Then Tuthill said slowly, “There, my friends, goes a man!”
― James Bassett, Harm's Way