Pacific Microphone

In the famous sculpture of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's triumphant return to the Philippines in 1944, one man follows the general onto the beach wearing neither helmet nor hat. That man is a radio reporter, one of only a handful who covered the war in the Pacific for the Americans back home. That man is Bill Dunn. This is his story of that war.

CBS sent reporter Dunn to the Orient nearly a year before the attack on Pearl Harbor to survey broadcast facilities for the coverage of the anticipated hostilities. In Rangoon he learned that his nation was at war. After moving to Batavia to cover the fall of the Netherlands East Indies, he escaped to Australia, where he joined MacArthur's staff for the duration. From that vantage point he covered air, land, and sea battles, campaign planning, ground combat, and the liberation of internment and POW camps. At Japan's surrender, he was dean of correspondents in the Southwest Pacific, a distinction that earned him an early entry into defeated Tokyo and a bird's-eye view of the signing of the surrender document.

Based on Dunn's memories and the transcripts of his broadcasts from the field, Pacific Microphone presents the first written account of the vagaries and headaches of providing radio coverage of a war that encompassed half the globe, including vast areas where modern electronics were limited. It also offers some unique viewpoints of certain aspects of the Pacific war, the insights of a professional observer who came to know the men and women who fought that war on land, air, and sea, and, certainly, the commanding minds that provided the direction and leadership that resulted in ultimate victory.

“Bill Dunn has some unexpected and fascinating memories of MacArthur that add to our collec­tive historical knowledge. This is . . . a first-rate description of how the news was carried from the warfront to the civilian rear, and an altogether inspiring memoir of what it was like out there in the bloody, traumatic Pacific war.”—from the foreword by Mike Wallace, CBS News/60 Minutes

Publishers Weekly

The only American broadcast journalist to cover the war in the Pacific from start to finish, Dunn modestly refers to himself as ``one of the camp followers.'' Several of his vivid broadcasts are reproduced here, showing how he kept the ``folks back home'' up to date by means of comparatively primitive radio hook-ups. Dunn covered Marine landings, MacArthur's triumphant return to the Philippines, the battle of Leyte Gulf, MacArthur's arrival in Japan and the surrender ceremony aboard the Missouri . Focused on people as well as events, his memoir offers fresh glimpses of such men as Robert Eichelberger, MacArthur's foremost army commander (and Dunn's favorite general) and Richard Sutherland, MacArthur's chief of staff (Dunn's least favorite). MacArthur himself looms awesome throughout the lively narrative. On the historic beach at Leyte, Dunn asked if the microphone made him nervous: ``Bill,'' said the general, ``I'm never nervous.'' Maps, photos. (Dec.)

WILLIAM J. DUNN served as an editor at CBS News, during World War II. After the war, he stayed in the Philippines to help reorganize the Manila Broadcasting Company. In 1959 he moved to Europe as a freelancer; while there he wrote half a dozen books on travel and food.