Book Review: They Were Expendable

Book Review: They Were Expendable

The novel They Were Expendable by W.L. White is the story of four MTB officers told in their own voices and from their own experiences, only a short while after the war ended. They were the all that was left of a squadron that sailed for the Philippines. These men were singled out to return to America by General MacArthur because he believed that they had proved their worth in warfare and that they could bring back to America their actual warfare experience, by which trainees could benefit. The four men who tell this story are Lieutenant John Bulkeley, Lieutenant Robert Kelly, Ensigns Anthony Akers, and George E. Cox Jr.
The men start their story by explaining that they were, in fact, expendable, just as any piece of equipment used during the war is expendable. They tried to explain by giving a theoretical situation. “Suppose you’re a sergeant machine-gunner, and your army is retreating and the enemy advancing. The captain t...