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Truk Lagoon Biography to be published

Posted: Thu Mar 14, 2013 2:23 am
by Trukdiver44
Hafa a'dai and Ran Annim from Guam!
In November 2013 "Witness to War: Truk Lagoon's Master Diver Kimiuo Aisek" will be released.
The money to publish this biography was raised on Kickstarter:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/276 ... -kimiuo-ai
While Dan Bailey, Klaus Lindemann and many others have written about the wrecks of Truk Lagoon, no one has written the story of the man who made diving them possible.
On 13 November 1973 Kimiuo Aisek founded the Blue Lagoon Dive Shop.The shop's logo is a silhouette of the Aikoku Maru with the Imperial Japanese flag in the background.
Not just divers but anyone who appreciates Pacific War history will enjoy this book. Its eleven chapters will describe Kimiuo's life during the Nan'yo days, and the two days he was eyewitness to "Operation Hailstone," the US aerial attack on Japan's Combined 4th Naval Fleet, Feb. 17-18, 1944. It will cover the arrival of jet travel to the tiny islands of Micronesia, the Cousteau expedition, and the many celebrities who came to dive the wrecks with Kimiuo. It concludes with Kimiuo's death in 2001, at age 73.
But the book's central thesis is not this humble man's success -- it is the story of a Trukese islander who had transformed compassion for his Japanese wartime friends into a passion for diving on the ships on which they had died.
I welcome any inquiries, and congratulations on a fabulous forum that provides a unique service.
Dianne Strong, Yona, Guam

Truk Lagoon Biography now released

Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 2:03 am
by Trukdiver44
Ran Annim!
"Witness To War" has now been published, debuted at the Birmingham (England) Scuba Show in October, and will be at "Beneath The Sea," the Meadowlands, N.J., March 28-30.

Bernie Chowdhury, author of The Last Dive, commented: "I was very impressed by how well you painted the picture of Kimiuo's early years, and his unique friendship with the Japanese. You captured the cultural background nicely, and the context in which Kimiuo and the Japanese were friends. Very well done!"

Professor Bruce Karolle, University of Guam, reviewed the book in the Guam edition of the Marianas Variety:
For me, author Strong integrates the life experiences of Kimiuo Aisek while providing the context – the international picture. This strong comprehensive writing keeps the reader both involved in the personal story of this extraordinary man and informed of the world events surrounding life in Chuuk.

For example, Kimiuo Aisek showed incredible tolerance and understanding toward the conquering Americans (talk about an example of "turning the other cheek!"). Many of us might have felt permanent resentment watching loved ones starve to death from the time of the Operation Hailstone naval bombing, to the Japanese surrender of Truk on Sept. 2, 1945, and taken a negative view toward the U.S. Naval blockade following the events of "Hailstone."

This book should be on your book shelf: Dianne M. Strong. 2013. Witness to War: Truk Lagoon’s Master Diver Kimiuo Aisek (Foreword by Francis X. Hexel, S.J., edited by David Jay Morris, former international News Editor of the Marianas Variety), Jellyfish Solutions, United Kingdom, hardback, 304 pages.

Re: Truk Lagoon Biography to be published

Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 2:06 am
by Trukdiver44
Here's a photo of the cover!