My name is jan mason. And i didnt ive been that we all like to know things we like to be in the know but whats paramount importance for an investigative journalist is to know when we dont know something. And im guessing thats true for our historians to Buzz Bissinger is not a military man. He grew up raised by World War Two veteran. But like so many World War Two vets, his dad, not one to regale the family with war stories around the dinner table. Buzz doesnt have firsthand stories or even secondhand stories about. War to share. But what he does have is an extortion naturally inquisitive mind, a mind that changed the landscape of sports forever. In 1990, with publication of friday night lights ushering in a new era in genre. I think about it those investigative sports documentaries that we all love, they started to show up after 1990. What this mans mind apart is his infinite ability ask but why. Asking that kind of question about its complicated. Asking that kind of question about the battle of okinawa. My goodness. In the mosquito bowl, Buzz Bissinger dishes up every last crumb of that complexity for us, sparing none of the terrors of war or the heartaches youth or the challenges of emerging nation. He trusts us as readers and as human beings to sort through it all and make sense of what this unlikely World War Two football story means for us today. So whether youve served like bezos father or have only loved someone who served like me and theres this incredible story of marines and their families as a football and its meaning for Young Country and of the battle in the pacific is for you. He wrote it for you more than anything. Buzz wants you to read the story of these men. I that among you are men and women who have served in our armed forces and diplomatic corps, putting your lives on the line forward. Americas ideals. We are honored to have with us tonight ernest marvel of frankford, delaware. Now 98 years young, but only 20 when he served in the european theater. Please join me in thanking ernest for serving our nation. Ernest, would you please stand. And ernest, im going to ask you to stand more time. I have a feeling there are some brothers and sisters in arms who we would like to stand with. You. So any of you who have served our armed forces or diplomatic corps, please join ernest standing for us so that we can all thank you as well. Please. And now those persons are. Well, good evening. I got to tell you. I use profanity. Im only going to use once you guys got your together. Ill tell you that. This is unbelievable. Im sort of. I am. And im humbled. Im delighted to be here. But after an introduction like that, im done. Lets go home. Lets go. I aint got a topic. And my hats off to you sir. I know what you went through. Thank you. Thank you for your service. Thank you. And everyone else, i do want to thank some people, obviously, ronald collins, the cochair of gen mason, the cochair and also the board. Matthew, matthew ash james, barbara haimes, susan kehoe, rebecca a thomas owen, peter zoll, and also the sponsor for tonights event, dogfish head. Very, very humbled and incredibly impressed. The Historical Research on the mosquito ball the past five years of my life, i never tired of it, never became bored with it, and also never felt i had enough. I imagine many of you can identify with this because were all historians here tonight. That feeling late at night of reading a book that has been lost to the ages or an document or pamphlet or an article and finding that little that nugget of gold in the otherwise empty dustpan. As a writer, you thirst for those tiny details because the devil is always in the details. When you write a book is the only way to make characters and events come alive. The mosquito bulb was. My first work of work of history. Friday night lights a prayer for the city three nights in august were all dependent. What we call immersion journalism being there as events unfolded, which allows for scenes to be vivid and alive and cinematic. I am not an historian, so i had to learn to be one. Its high learning curve. Im not sure i successfully fulfilled it, but man was it fun . It the ultimate journey and as many have said, it is so crucially important and i think more important than ever as we head along in such uncertain times, id like to think that everyone has already read the mosquito ball twice, once in bed and once on the toilet. Pretty sure thats not true, except maybe for the toilet part, which actually is my most favorite and private office. I actually like writing. You know, i dont. I like writing with noise. As a matter of fact, the sound of garbage trucks. I like with my wonderful wife who would be here, she decided to adopt a dog instead. Literally a sweet 11 year old with one eye. Really, really sweet. I liked when he said, i say that again. That was so sweet. Oh, here you go. I wrote on the kitchen counter and the only floor would be i would be in the middle of the magic sentence. The perfect sentence. The sentence. Wait for all your life. When my wife would come up to me and say, are you interruptible . And id say, well, i am now, because you just ruined the sentence. I would to say that and this is a delight to me, that the book has become an instant york times bestseller. It hit number eight out of the box. That does not relieve you of the responsibility of buying more books. I want to make that clear. I would venture say that many you have little or no idea of what the mosquito ball really was, so i should back up and im going to do a short reading from the book because it says it must much better than i could paraphrase. As each day, unquote, of kannauj. On december four, 1944, passed with the rumors of when the marines would ship out more and more of them, it adopted that far away is known as the thousand yard stare a going asiatic or going rock happy or whatever else you wanted to call it. The eyes blank and deadened like sharks eyes seeing, but not seeing the mouse talking but not talking. Some went deep into their heads and never came out. There were suicides. It was the weight the interminable wait. Marines didnt to wait. It was better than. No, you were going to die. Then play it over and over in your head fights erupted in those waiting months of 1944, morale was theyve been for months. Training is important, but training becomes dull. It was over a few beers. The former players on the 29th regiment of the six Marine Division would stand toe to toe with former collegiate players of the fourth regiment and made the emphatic claim that the 29th would kick the fourth is as if there ever was a full Football Game between the two, which of course was in a place like in the middle of the pacific with a war going. These were not run of the mill former collegiate football players, 29th included an allamerican running back from purdue and all Missouri Valley conference and players from cornell, notre dame, illinois and duquesne, and five former captains notre dame, illinois and purdue. The arrogance of the 29th infuriated the fourth, which had ample bragging rights of its own. A two time allamerican wide receiver, wisconsin, and another center from the university of california an ivy league, or who had started with the new york giants a year and starters from wisconsin, michigan state, fordham, montana and ohio. Northern 62. The players of the 65 who played were either or would be drafted or would sign a contract with the pros. The became as wonderful as it was improbable there would be an organized Football Game on guadalcanal in the pacific on Christmas Eve of 1944. Propitious between the 29th and the fourth of the sixth division. As close as you could get to the real thing and there was a name that would forever become associated with the mosquito. When i say is is this was not some mere pickup game they built goalposts said a coconut. They built a regulation field. Of the parade grounds trying to get as much coral as possible. And they didnt really succeed. So guys were cut all over the place. They had programs. They announced the starting rosters on the p. A. System they built. These guys were very, very, very clever. The game went out over parts of the pacific and what they call the mosquito radio network. They had officials. This was as close as you could get to the real thing. And you have to close your eyes, as i did when i heard about it. And try to imagine the improbability, the serendipity and the wonder of a football wonder of a Football Game underwater. 1500 marines line the field. They were allowed to be drunk. They would have been drunk anyway because the marines. They drank beer. They gambled on their Favorite Team and they watched as these. I. I dont think of them. I call them men. But to me, theyre not men. They were still boys. They were kids in a way, forced to grow up so quickly when the war began and they went into combat were 24, 23 year old boys were now in charge of a platoon of 17 and 18 and 19 year olds responsible for their life and their death. This was, i think, the last time they were allowed to be boys to do something they loved, to have a blast, to have a ball. The score was really a prevalent and i am going to swear one more time because they really well i want they really beat the out of each other. It started this touch but the marines semi tackled some said it was as rough as game they ever played. One guy fainted injuries so he wouldnt have to play. They would get cut up by the coral, which would blow up into infection. This is guadalcanal. Its extremely hot. The mosquitoes all over the place. But they had a ball. Five months later, they at a battle that i think has been mostly forgotten. Like much of the pacific war, has been forgotten in the shadow of the atlantic theater. Months later. And i just pause. Its still amazing to me. 65 of the men who played in that game, of those 65, 15 were later killed at okinawa. Many of them officers ranging in age the oldest was 25, the youngest. Was 18. Now it takes me forever to get a good idea for a book. Really, once every ten years, you know, they come and they and, you know, you think you have one, you know its ready. You think youve hooked moby and you realize it was just a very strong mental. You let it go. Its not going to work because what do you look in a book . What what makes good books . So elusive . What makes idea so elusive . You want drama. You want great narrative that unfolds like a mystery. What happens . What happens . What happens . You want a story, a beginning and a middle and an end that pulls the reader in and doesnt let go. And you need memorable, and perhaps most important of all, indelible characters that will resonate and stay in your heart long after the book, long after youve it all the ingredient were there. I was very, very excited when i heard about this game, and i found it by accident. It wasnt willful. All the ingredients were there except for one big problem. Of the 65 men who played in that game, 64 were gone. There was one survivor who i did interview, but my goal was high. I wanted the reader to connect with some of these men. I wanted the reader to care about these men. Maybe even love them and believe with them. And with them. As i took them on a journey from their child hoods in a different america to college to football, to the marines, and ultimately into this indescribably bloodbath of okinawa. And ill just say this now, a. Approximately 250,000 americans, japanese and civilians died at okinawa in 82 days. Thats 3000 a day. The casualty rate was way over 50 . The navy, because of the slowness of the Ground Forces and the kamikaze suicide pilots, lost roughly six 6000 seamen. The in any battle in history. Im not here to debate the atom bomb unless you ask questions about it, because i have a big mouth and ill say anything. But i know evidence and i am convinced truman dropped that bomb not to show the russians. He dropped that bomb because he was horrified by okinawa, which was the last step to the attack on the japanese homeland and i believe he said to himself we are not going to lose another american boy on foreign soil. And this is only way to stop a savage, relentless enemy that had shown no signs of surrendering. But i these men to come alive and this is where history comes. This is where research comes in. And granted, this is where luck comes in because it turned out several of the players had left behind and incredible paper trail of wives, not just letters home report cards. They didnt do very well, actually report cards, transcripts, other letters they had written starting when they were eight or nine years old. You know, letters, camp illustrations, drawing high school essays, everything. And that my eureka moment where i said, i think, i can do this. The only problem was i knew nothing really about the war. I nothing about the military. I really didnt know anything. So the learning curve was high. It was challenging it was a little bit scary, but i wanted to do more than just portray some of these players really for specific ones. Dave shriner, two time allamerican from wisconsin, perfect allamerican. If he walked into this room, you would see, i think all the women would want him. I dont know about the men we wont go there. But from a farm town in wisconsin, tony buchnevich, the best name ever for football deep from the coal mines of saint david. His father, an immigrant, croatia, two brothers who also went to Major University on football scholarships. The essence of the american dream. Despite withering hatred from too many pockets of america. John, mick lowry had lived a more entitled life. Hed grown up in providence. His father was a famous football coach named tough mick lowry. He was always that blocking back. Maybe because no one in their right mind would want to be a blocking back. Started with the new york giants. And you wont be able to see it, but youll see it in your book. And i want to just quickly point this out. You can look he drew that he was a gifted, gifted artist. He was he drew this this is the jungle of bougainville and i believe he drew it when he was at bougainville. And the last was bob bauman from a working class town of harvey, illinois, near chicago. His father had died when he was 14. He basically he and his brother raised the mother, the family. They were broke they would pick onions in South Holland and then steal a few. So they have something to eat for lunch. But beyond these men, i wanted to delve into aspects of war we often dont think about, i think, or overlook that affected the lives. Not only of marines, but soldiers and seamen everywhere. And this is where history really comes in the importance of it, the sacredness of it, the need for us as a nation to remember and remember and remember. So we never forget and believe. History has never become more important, more essential than than ever in our speed of sound society in one ear and not even out the other before we run to lap up the way this scandal, we no longer accept the importance of letting things sink in flowing to you. Think about them stepping back to examine them and learn from them and put them in perspective to think about them. Because what do we think about now . Or at least what does the media think . We think about now . What role . Meghan markle was in at the queens funeral . We write history because the complexity, the the horror of the past so helps to understand our futures that as americans, i believe, more uncertain than ever, which makes the value of history more important than ever. And how do you achieve that . Do you achieve all these things you research, you Research History . And i knew nothing i knew i knew absolutely nothing. You know, the bibliography see, the source notes are over 100 pages, much to the mortification the publisher, because the more pages of book is, the more it costs to print it. I looked at nearly 500 books and articles and documents obviously ranging books on okinawa, but not just okinawa. Virtually every major battle of pacific you spend guadalcanal, tarawa, guam. I have read at least at least 10,000 pages of after action reports that are kept by the military in the immediate aftermath of a battle and have great information. And if youre willing to really meticulously go through it. I read books on the history, japan and its culture. I have to say i could not go to japan because of covid. I had to write the book. I will go. Ive never seen okinawa, but i will go but covered for all of us and for me was a true impediment. I read innumerable biographies of some of the great men of the pacific and the atlantic. Chester nimitz, ernest king kelly, terrible. And admiral with the navy howling mad smith, who was a little bit crazy but a great and dedicated marine who constantly got himself into trouble with his big mouth and unfortunately it really hurt not just him, but men on okinawa because they would not let him be the commander in chief. And they picked someone who was really inadequate. And the other fun is to research the funky stuff like cookbooks who knew that the navy had cookbooks, which really the marines because that meant they were eating good food. Why theyre in. The merchant marine had a cookbook. I swear it was 570 pages, but thats fun to look at. Thats fun to look at. And you get obsessed with things. Im old fashioned. I use an index card system. I devised that were well over 100 and i wrote and i had research assistance. It was too much for me. Then they or i would go through every document, every book, every letter and put on index cards, descriptions with reference and then file them away. I had well over 3000, i dont know. I used. Maybe 20 , but theres no such thing as having too much. There is such thing of not having enough. And as i say, could have researched for another ten years. I wish i there were some documents that i wished i had access to. And as you research obvious, see, you learn. You learn elements of beauty. You learn elements of humor. Because im sure this is true of you. When you were in World War Two, if you didnt have a sense of humor, if you not laugh at everything, forget it. It was the only way to take the edge off what you were seeing and the constant, constant fear in the back of your mind. Am i to make it or am i not going to make it . And i also found myself shocked by some of what i learned. I was shocked, by the way, in which men and marines were so willingly sacrificed on occasions for wobbly and uncertain object. This knowing going in that if the strategy failed, the men would helplessly die. It hit me the most when i wrote about the battle of tarawa. I dont know how many here remember it. Its a forgotten battle, but it was a pivotal battle. It occurred november of 1943, and it was the beginning of the hopped up