Book Review: The 25 Best World War II Sites, Pacific Theater

I picked up this book when my mom and I visited the D-Day Museum in New Orleans almost two years ago now. She was always encouraging me to travel more, and I thought this might give me some ideas of places to go visit. As it turns out, I have ended up visiting two of the top 25 (three actually, but I don't count #25 which is North America and includes the Museum where I got the book) and the guidebook was helpful, but it's best used as a supplement to more traditional travel guides.

The title is a bit misleading as each "site" actually contains up to dozens of individual points of interest located within a particular geographic area, many of which would qualify as "sites" all on their own.

The book begins with an introduction and explanation of how to use the book. It then starts listing the top 25 in order. Each section begins with a description of the role of the site in the war with suggestions for further reading. That's followed by a map with points of interest marked on it, along with a few basic facts including a description of the site today. The points of interest are then listed with a rating of from one to five stars, contact information if appropriate, and a description of why it's significant and what's there to see. Most sections then wind up with a description of major non-WWII related attractions in the area, general travel directions for the area, and a few hotel listings.

After the Top 25 there's a couple of pages devoted to sites that didn't make the list, a bibliography and an index.

The book makes a stab at being a general guidebook with some of the information, but I found it most useful as a supplement to more traditional guidebooks. It highlights points of interests related to WWII that a traditional guidebook might skip entirely, while the traditional guidebook does a better job of covering other attractions and finding food and accommodations.

I mentioned at the beginning that I've had the opportunity to visit a couple of the sites listed, those were both in the Philippines. #2 is the Island of Corregidor in Manila Bay, and #19 is Manila. The section on Manila was very helpful in identifying historically significant sites that I wouldn't have otherwise been aware of. My fiancee grew up in Manila and while she was aware of Corregidor, she wasn't aware of many of the sites in Manila itself, or at least not their ties to WWII. We only ended up visiting a few of them, but they were worth the time we took to do so.

I highly recommend this book if you have an interest in World War II and plan on doing any traveling around the Pacific Rim. Especially if you think you might end up in the Philippines as four of the sites are located there. Even if you don't plan on traveling, it's interesting to get an idea of what's still around today from the war.

I should also mention site 25 again, which is North America. It lists 25 points of interest scattered all across the US that have some connection to the war in the Pacific. Mostly museums. So if you live in the US you might consider picking it up even if you don't plan on actually traveling to the Pacific.

There's also a companion volume covering the top 25 sites in Europe, but I haven't read that one yet, so I can't comment on it, but they are both by the same author, Chuck Thompson, so I imagine it is probably just as good. If you are interested in it you can check it out here:

The 25 Best World War II Sites, European Theater : The Ultimate Traveler's Guide to Battlefields, Monuments & Museums