Published in 1944, Lost Island by James Norman Hall all is a story told by George Dodd, a dinner guest at a friend’s home in the hills of Berkeley, California.
Dodd recounts how on short notice during World War II, he was sent to a small Pacific atoll to survey it for Provisional Reserve Base 9. The US military made provisional bases to establish an air route across the Pacific when Japan was threatening to control the sea.
Dodd had two weeks to complete his survey and devise a plan to build of an airstrip and the infrastructure to support the base before a freighter filled with men and equipment showed up to start work.
When Dodd arrives at the island, he finds he is emotionally unprepared for the task at hand—the complete transformation of the island and its inhabitants.
Hall paints a convincing picture of how war can affect the most remote locations and uninvolved people.