Tax-chick, you are correct about Nimitz not publishing his memoirs. Associates of Gordon Prange interviewed Nimitz’s widow while working on “Miracle at Midway” (highly recommended btw). Nimitz’s widow said that Nimitz had told her that being truthful about events during the war would involve criticizing some other officers in the Navy. In his widow’s words, he couldn’t bring himself to hurt other people and that prevented him from publishing memoirs. In an age when Hollywood celebrities and reality TV stars are pushed on us as heroes, Chester Nimitz stands as an example of a real hero.
The book said that Nimitz believed very strongly that public wrangling among officers was detrimental to everyone in the Navy. He was very strict about not making critical statement about others, or allowing disputes among his subordinates.
A great man, and a credit to the State of Texas!
And I just requested “Miracle at Midway” from the library. Thanks for the suggestion! My father is a Naval War College graduate, and one of the texts they used in his course (1977-78) was a book about Midway written by two Japanese officers who were participants. I read it several times when I was a girl.
Just as in the movie, one can easily get all those Japanese officers and ships, with their similar names, mixed up!