Gainard Against the Odds By L.R. Moise, PhD (78 pages, drawings, maps) Reviewer:  James Healy Overall Rating: Two Stars: Some readers would enjoy it but many would not. The USS GAINARD (DD-706) was a Sumner-class destroyer christened in September 1944. The destroyer was assigned to the dreaded radar picket stations surrounding Okinawa. As it developed, the GAINARD had a charmed life and was unscathed during the most intense and challenging destroyer battles against Kamikazes during World War II--hence, Against the Odds title. The destroyer was named in honor of Joseph Gainard, a Merchant Marine Captain, which was somewhat unusual. How Captain Gainard won the Navy Cross may be the more interesting and informative part of this story. As skipper of the freighter CITY OF FLINT, he had the misfortune to be intercepted by the German battleship DEUTSCHLAND in October 1939. While still a neutral, the American vessel was carrying lubricating oil, a wartime contraband that initiated seizure by the German boarding party. The reader is introduced to the political intrigue encountered at the various ports to which the German's prize crew was compelled to stop. After all it was 1939. World War II had not yet become the most horrible war in history. Featuring a sturdy hardcover, the work makes a fine memento for the officers and crew of the USS GAINARD, but at a mere 78 pages, the general reader may sense this is more of an executive summary on both Captain Gainard and DD-706.