Tin Can Man By Emory J. Jernigan (198 pages, photos, maps) Reviewer:  Paul Morgan Overall Rating: Four Stars: Highly recommended. An excellent book. Unlike most accounts of U.S. Naval operations in WWII, E.J. Jernigan’s Tin Can Man is one of the very few told from the viewpoint of an enlisted man.  Also, his perspective on the Pacific campaign is not from a cruiser or flattop, but from a hard-charging Fletcher Class destroyer. This is Jernigan’s personal experience of the war, beginning with his enlistment from a farm near Chattahoochee, Florida.  He endures boot camp and is assigned to USS WASHINGTON (BB 56), operating in the North Atlantic during the Shadow War year of 1940.  But most of his story is about the USS SAUFLEY (DD 465), a ship he served on from her shakedown cruise to the Japanese surrender.    The book is fast-paced, describing some of the most intense battles of the war, with the allies fighting their way, island-by-island, through the Solomons toward the Philippines.  SAUFLEY had the usual jobs of escort duty, anti-submarine operations, support of amphibious landings, and anti-air gunnery at a time when suicide attacks were frequent and deadly.  In the course of earning her 16 battle stars, SAUFLEY fired so many five inch shells that she wore the rifling out of her main batteries. Jernigan writes in an energetic and youthful voice.  With a publishing date of 1993, it’s not clear when the author actually wrote this book.  In any case, he captures the spirit of a rowdy young machinist mate, filled with boyish enthusiasm about life on a destroyer, intermixed with homilies about discipline, duty, and honor.  He writes with humor about the crew’s liberty excesses and with admiration for shipmates who do their jobs and skippers who know how to lead.  It’s a story with a lot going on.  The adrenaline rush before combat is “the flutter-willies.”  The battles are vivid, but he also shows us memorable glimpses of the complex interactions between members of Saufley’s crew.  And Jernigan sensitively describes the unexpected estrangement from his home town friends and family members who are unable to connect with his intense life at sea. It’s enlightening to view the campaign in the Solomons from one young man’s viewpoint.  It is not a list of actions, but a heartfelt accounting by a man who knows the cost.  Though SAUFLEY survived the conflict, more than 20 U.S. destroyers were lost.  As hostilities finally end and the author prepares to leave the navy for home, it feels as though we’re in the presence of an old hand who has weathered the equivalent of several lifetimes.  It’s something of shock when Jernigan writes, “I was 22 years old and had been in the Navy since I was 17.  I didn’t know how to be a civilian.” Even if you didn’t serve aboard Saufley -- as I did, in the early 60s -- go get the book and enjoy it.  (If it’s not available at your local bookstore, check amazon.com.)  This well-told story will resonate for all those who appreciate greyhounds.  Those who don’t just might find their attitudes changed. Availability: Tin Can Sailors Ship's Store