Deftly
blending history with autobiography, action with analysis, the
legendary Marine general Victor "Brute" Krulak offers here
a riveting insider's chronicle of U.S. Marines--their fights on the
battlefield and off, and their extraordinary esprit de corps. He not
only takes a close look at the Marine experience during World War
II, Korea, and Vietnam--wars in which Krulak was himself a
participant--but also examines the foundation on which the Corps is
built. In doing so, he helps answer the question of what it means to
be a Marine and how the Corps has maintained such a consistently
outstanding reputation. First to Fight has been included on
the Marine Corps's recommended reading list for many years.
Absolutely
the single most impressive volume on Marine Corps history! After
teaching History of the U.S. Marine Corps for over two years at the
U.S. Naval Academy, I can honestly say that nothing else in print
even comes close to Allan Millett's Semper Fidelis. To all
Marines... this is what we SHOULD know about our history -- not just
the propaganda and minutia. To everyone else... read this book to
understand us and our institution -- you will not be disappointed.
Amazon Reviewer.
In his own book, Wartime, Paul Fussell called With the Old Breed
"one of the finest memoirs to emerge from any war." John
Keegan referred to it in The Second World War as "one of the
most arresting documents in war literature." And Studs Terkel
was so fascinated with the story he interviewed its author for his
book, "The Good
War." What has made E.B. Sledge's memoir
of his experience fighting in the South Pacific during World War II
so devastatingly powerful is its sheer honest simplicity and
compassion.
Now including a new introduction by Paul Fussell, With
the Old Breed presents a stirring, personal account of the vitality
and bravery of the Marines in the battles at Peleliu and Okinawa.
Born in Mobile, Alabama in 1923 and raised on riding, hunting,
fishing, and a respect for history and legendary heroes such as
George Washington and Daniel
Boone, Eugene Bondurant Sledge (later
called "Sledgehammer" by his Marine Corps buddies) joined
the Marines the year after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and from 1943
to 1946 endured the events recorded in this book. In those years, he
passed, often painfully, from innocence to experience.
Sledge enlisted out of patriotism, idealism, and
youthful courage, but once he landed on the beach at Peleliu, it was
purely a struggle for survival. Based on the notes he kept on slips
of paper tucked secretly away in his New Testament, he simply and
directly recalls those long months, mincing no words and sparing no
pain. The reality of battle meant unbearable heat, deafening
gunfire, unimaginable brutality and cruelty, the stench of death,
and, above all, constant fear. Sledge still has nightmares about
"the bloody, muddy month of May on Okinawa." But, as he
also tellingly reveals, the bonds of friendship formed then will
never be severed.
Sledge's honesty and compassion for the other Marines,
even complete strangers, sets him apart as a memoirist of war. Read
as sobering history or as high adventure, With the Old Breed is a
moving chronicle of action and courage. Amazon Description.
"Red
Mike" Edson was one fearless warrior. His frontline exploits on
Tarawa,
Saipan, and
Guadalcanal (where he won the Medal of Honor and
probably saved the campaign) are the stuff of legends, but he was
also, improbably, a first-class staff officer.
This unusual talent for organization brought him two stars and a
role in the highest echelons of the Corps, but it also took him into
the fierce politics of the Pentagon and may have indirectly caused
his death.
The history of this fine Marine is well told in this outstanding
biography; with photos, bibliography, and index. Highly readable;
essential for Marine Corps readers and of great interest to general
military history readers and WWII buffs. Amazon Review.
Lewis
B. Puller, Jr.'s memoir is a moving story of a man born into a proud
military legacy who struggles to rebuild his world after the Vietnam
War has shattered his body and his ideals. Raised in the shadow of
his father, Marine General Lewis B. "Chesty"
Puller, a
hero of five wars, young Lewis went to Southeast Asia at the height
of the Vietnam War and served with distinction as an officer in his
father's beloved Corps. But when he tripped a booby-trapped howitzer
round, triggering an explosion that would cost him his legs, his
career as a soldier ended--and the battle to reclaim his life began.
Amazon Description.
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