Author to discuss book on horrific WW II battle at American Legion Post 20 meeting, Nov. 14

Acclaimed journalist and author James M. Scott will be guest speaker at the National Press Club's American Legion Post 20 meeting at noon on Wednesday, Nov. 14, in the McClendon Room.

The speaker portion of the meeting is open to all Club members.

Scott will discuss his newest book, "Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila," which published Oct. 30. The book explores the World War II Battle of Manila, as U.S. forces fought to retake the Philippines from Japanese occupiers. The 29-day battle in and around Manila saw a rampage by Japanese troops that terrorized the civilian population and virtually destroyed the city. Some 100,000 civilians were slain in the horrific conflict.

A former reporter for the Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier and Nieman Fellow for Journalism at Harvard, Scott has won numerous prizes for writing. His book, "Attack on the Liberty," won the 2010 Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison Award for excellence in naval literature. He is also the author of "Target Tokyo," about the famed April 1942 long-distance bombing raid on Tokyo led by Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle to avenge the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The book was a 2016 Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Post 20 has been associated with the Club since the Post was founded in 1919, the same year the American Legion was founded. The Post was started at the suggestion of storied World War I Gen. John 'Black Jack' Pershing. Then serving in Washington, Pershing was an associate member of the Club.