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March 2023 Book Review | 'The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II'

Jerry Hubbell reviews "The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in WWII."
Harper Collins
Jerry Hubbell reviews "The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in WWII."

During World War II, the United States Marine Corps had fought their way through the islands of the Pacific until they reached and captured the island of Guadalcanal. There, on Christmas Eve of 1944, the marines could forget about the war and play the game they loved: football.

In the book, "The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II,” author Buzz Bissinger chronicles the lives of five of the major players of that game.

In researching the material for his story about the Mosquito Bowl, Pulitzer Prize author Buzz Bissinger, relied heavily on letters, diaries, journals and Marine Corps records to tell the story of the marines and the game.

He writes about the lives of five of the football players who find themselves in a pickup game as they were training for the invasion of Okinawa in December 1944.

The book follows the lives of five top college football players:

George Murphy, team captain at Notre Dame; Tony Butkovich, an All-American at Purdue; Robert Bauman, an All-American tackle and punter at Wisconsin; David Schreiner, an All-American end at Wisconsin; and John McLaughry, an all-conference blocking back at Brown University.

They are just five of the 65 marines of the 6th Division who played college football, many of them All-Americans or all-conference and were members of the 4th and 29th Marine regiments. Thus, the argument: which regiment could field the best football team?

These men, and the others who played in the Mosquito Bowl, were all in their 20s and they had postponed offers to play in the NFL, begin careers, marry, and start their own families to join the fight and become a Marine.

Jerry Hubbell reviews "The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in WWII."
Harper Collins
Jerry Hubbell reviews "The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in WWII."

The game attracted a great deal of attention and allowed the marines to forget about the war for a day and enjoy watching or playing in the game. Bets were made and a great deal of money changed hands. The game even gained live airplay in the Pacific Theater and a great deal of media attention in the U.S.

Following the game, the marines continued their training. They didn’t know that this would be one of the bloodiest battles of the war. The nearly three-month battle in the summer of 1945 would cost the Marine Corps, the Army and the Navy nearly 13,000 dead and three times as many wounded.

"The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II" by Buzz Bissinger is a well-researched and easy book to read. It is a very detailed and at times, very emotional.

And the score of the game? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

The book can be found in our local libraries.