Buzz Bissinger/HarperCollins/2022/480pp/IBSN: 9780062879929
The Mosquito Bowl by Buzz Bissinger (Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Friday Night Lights) is a unique World War II history weaving real combat stories together with 1940s leather-helmeted college football.
While the centerpiece of this book is the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, it’s not just another war story. Bissinger’s sports narrative expertise is on full display to deliver a vivid portrait of college football before and during WWII, when it was hugely popular in America (far more so than the fledgling professional leagues of the time that many college stars did not even consider). He describes the pre-war lives and families of a number of young student-athletes who joined the Marines during accomplished football careers to endure brutal basic training followed by island battles in the Pacific Theater, and, ultimately, the deadly Battle of Okinawa, which many did not survive. Bissinger, whose father served at Okinawa, enlightens us with sidebars on Marine history, the development of critical new amphibious military tactics, the progress of the Pacific war, and startling (and often unsavory) backroom politics that guided the course of WWII.
But don’t expect a nostalgic historical piece about the so-called “Greatest Generation” – this book is not a tribute to that time period. Ordered to accept black recruits into their ranks, Marine officers ensured they were segregated and mistreated. Also, while many of the star college athletes were anxious to serve their country and join the war effort, a number took full advantage of a notorious draft-dodging endeavor: enrolling at West Point Military Academy, where they were eagerly welcomed by coaches who put together the best Army teams in history and competed for the national title each year. These crafty (albeit less heroic) lads stayed and played for West Point through the end of the war, then deliberately flunked out (thereby avoiding compulsory military service) to join the upstart NFL.
In December 1944 on Guadalcanal (overtaken by the Allies in 1942), two bored and antsy Marine regiments trained for the upcoming invasion of Okinawa. These regiments included 64 former college football players who outfitted two teams to play a bruising game, in brutally hot, insect-infested weather, radio broadcast nationally back on the homefront and famously dubbed the Mosquito Bowl.
In this final part of the book after an intriguing lead-up that really sets the hook, Bissinger narrates a compelling account of the battle, a nasty and messy slog led by an unseasoned and untested general who greatly underestimated his job at the stakes. Bissinger emphasizes the toughness, resolve and tenacity of his soldiers, however, many of whom were killed in combat.
World War II and college football? A dubious pairing that Bissinger handles deftly – once again proving himself a master literary craftsman and storyteller.
