Description
Sailors To The End: The Deadly Fire on the USS Forrestal by Gregory A. Freeman, inscribed by Senator John McCain to Governor Robert Ehrlich of Maryland. The future Senator McCain was serving onboard the USS Forrestal during the fire and was wounded.
Octavo, x, [2], 307pp. Blue hardcover, title in silver on spine. Stated “First Edition,” with a full number line on the copyright page. Thumbprint along fore-edge, internally clean. In the publisher’s fine dust jacket, $25.95 on the front flap.
This copy is signed by the author and inscribed by Senator McCain, “To Gov Ehrlich with admiration.”
A great association copy.
On July 29, 1967, while serving as a naval aviator aboard the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal during the Vietnam War, Lieutenant Commander John McCain was involved in a catastrophic fire triggered by the accidental launch of a Zuni rocket. The rocket struck McCain’s A-4 Skyhawk, rupturing its fuel tank and causing a massive blaze on the flight deck. McCain escaped from his burning aircraft and was injured by a bomb explosion while attempting to help another pilot. The fire raged for over 18 hours, killing 134 sailors and injuring more than 160, making it one of the worst naval disasters since World War II.
