Search -
A Special Valor: The U.S. Marines And the Pacific War (Bluejacket Books)
A Special Valor The US Marines And the Pacific War - Bluejacket Books Author:Richard Wheeler If the U.S. Marines gave birth to a legend in the halls of Montezuma in the nineteenth century, they added glorious luster to it with their heroism and victories against the Japanese in World War II as this vivid, foxhole view of the Marines? war clearly demonstrates. The author, a Marine veteran of the Pacific campaign himself, draws extensivel... more »y on frontline eyewitness accounts of Marines and combat journalists and backs up their stories with official U.S. action reports and captured Japanese materials. First published in 1983, the book has earned praise as a popular, one-volume history of all the battles fought by the Marine Corps in the Pacific campaign. Richard Wheeler describes in fascinating and exciting detail the heroic defense of Wake Island against an overwhelming enemy assault force. He traces the long bloody battle for Guadalcanal that brought the Marines their first victory and gave America and its allies control of the strategically important Solomon Islands. He follows the painful, island-by-island counterattack toward the Japanese homeland when the Marines created new legends at such places as Bougainville, Saipan, Tarawa, Guam, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. Also included are the remarkable exploits of the Marines holding off Japanese assault waves at Heartbreak Ridge and struggling up the slopes of Mount Suribachi to raise the Stars and Stripes. Some sixty-five photographs enhance the text.« less