The Book

A rare glimpse of the horror of warfare is now told through the eyes of a brave and inexperienced young sailor in his memoir, I Remember the Yorktown. In his account of the famous World War II Battle of the Coral Sea, Gene Domienik gives readers an inside glimpse of what it was like on this carrier – the pervading atmosphere, the overconfidence of the crew, the anxiety and fear generated by limited information, and the heroic response of everyone aboard once the call to action came.

The Battle of the Coral Sea is a famous moment in the history of air and seapower. It was a major turning point in World War II, told as only someone who had experienced it could convey. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in World War II, great naval battles of the past, and particularly for sailors and airmen of today.

The Author

Gene Domienik joined the Navy at seventeen years of age. He served on two ships, the USS Yorktown and the USS West Virginia. During his Navy career he was awarded The American Theater Ribbon; Asiatic Pacific Ribbon with 7 stars; Philippine Liberation Ribbon with 2 stars; American Defense Ribbon with “A,” and a Good Conduct medal.

My Thoughts

The recollections of a veteran of WWII, who enlisted in the Navy at age 17 and was assigned to the USS Yorktown (CV-5) while it was still on the East Coast. He’d just graduated from Navy Machinist School and served in M Division (main propulsion) on an aircraft carrier which was in combat in the Pacific during the early years of the war–damaged in the Battle of the Coral Sea, and lost in the Battle of Midway.

If you’d like to know what it was like for enlisted men on that very important ship during combat, and even during times between battles, Mr. Domienik’s story certainly reveals those.

I had an uncle on the same ship, so it was fascinating for me.