The summer of 1942 in the Pacific was not so much a season as it was a meat grinder. The United States had been reeling since Pearl Harbor, lurching from one setback to another, and only just beginning to claw its way back. Coral Sea in May had been a draw that felt like a moral win. Midway in June was a spectacular success, the sort of thing that Hollywood scripts itself around, where four Japanese carriers ended up at the bottom of the ocean. But the war was nowhere close to finished, and Japan was far from beaten.