Ben Bradlee Cruises “the Slot”

This week’s New Yorker features a piece I’ve been looking forward to since March: Legendary newspaper editor Ben Bradlee’s story about taking a cruise in the waters of the Pacific where he served on a United States Navy destroyer in World War II. It’s a great read, with Bradlee weaving war remembrance in with travels.

When we came to Guam, we saw a memorial with the names of America’s war dead, and, somehow, I found solace when I saw my friend Peter Saltonstall’s name carved on the wall. Peter died two days after the hostilities on Guam had ceased—killed by a sniper. He was a cousin of Jean’s, and I recalled his happy smile the time he sat in a barber’s chair that he’d bolted to the floor of his freshman dorm room. The first Japanese we saw were in Guam—tourists and honeymooners. It gave me an odd feeling to see Japanese tourists at these memorials. For part of the war, Admiral W. F. (Bull) Halsey had put up a billboard on a hillside of the island of Tulagi saying “Kill Japs, kill Japs, kill more Japs.” It was never that personal for me; on the Philip, we thought about doing damage to ships and shore installations before we thought about killing anybody.

Unfortunately, Bradlee’s story isn’t yet available online. 

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