Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy started a crash program, gathering information and educating personnel to deal with enemy bombs, land mines, and other explosive ordnance. Figuring "lawyers make the best cannon fodder," recent law school graduate J. Frank Durham was among early volunteers for this dangerous and highly-classified work. Graduating with a perfect grade from the navy's new Bomb Disposal School, he was retained on staff to help the operation expand, then dispatched to Guadalcanal, where Americans were fighting the pivotal battle of World War Two. While...

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy started a crash program, gathering information and educating personnel to deal with enemy bombs, land mines, and other explosive ordnance. Figuring "lawyers make the best cannon fodder," recent law school graduate J. Frank Durham was among early volunteers for this dangerous and highly-classified work. Graduating with a perfect grade from the navy's new Bomb Disposal School, he was retained on staff to help the operation expand, then dispatched to Guadalcanal, where Americans were fighting the pivotal battle of World War Two. While...