A courageous examination of one mans story of fight the intolerable parts of the Pacific War in South east Asia
930031
As a fellow Tasmanian I found the authors book quite a gripping read. His main character came from a place that I new well and the story is told pretty well bereft of much personal sympathy (as opposed to much empathy) for the principal character.
It is a book that really does make one question the real causes of the Pacific War and the seemingly large numbers of Australian's who fought in it in Thailand and Burma, and faced impossible circumstances and a brave, but brutal enemy, whether Japanese guards of Korean guards ,a s the Japanese these days seem to highlight.
4527847
The book is the story of a nine year old boy whose idyllic life of boyhood is interrupted by the invasion by the Japanese of the Philippines Islands during WW11.
The author says that he wrote the book for the Filipinos who lived through the war and for those who followed so they may know and understand more about this important time in Philippine history. In reading the book, many Filipinos will surely feel a kinship with the events and incidents narrated in it, sometimes humorous and at other times too searing to forget.
The story spans the years of 1941 when the Philippines, then a colony of the United States, found itself occupied by Japanese forces till its liberation (in 1944) which began when McArthur landed in Leyte in 1944. The story ends in 1946 when the country celebrated its independence.
The war may be considered a side story when the book is seen as many stories of lives that were changed as a consequence of it. Bravery, courage, adaptation and sometimes malfeasance and complicity (J'accuse!) are the results as seen through the eyes of the author as a nine year old boy who rapidly grows to manhood with the inevitable passage of the circumcision ritual performed in late childhood or the early teen years in the provinces.
Although the author has written a book that will undoubtedly appeal to a Filipino audience, there is a lot to be learned by Americans who lost loved ones and lost lovers during the war in the Pacific rim, especially the Philippines. The incredibly detailed description of the Bataan March  and the prison dungeons of Fort Santiago, for example, with its dark inhuman tales that are no longer secret, tear at the heart and open wounds of stories you heard from your grandparents. The atrocities committed by the soldiers of the Imperial Army are unforgettable but forgiven by the author in his preface.
For me as a physician, the serendipitous discovery by the townsfolk of the kinakina
(cinchona is a source of quinine, a treatment for malaria) bark to treat the symptoms of ague was more than interesting. It was also more than humorous that the town doctor's name is Dr. Tambal (tambal is Cebuano for cure).
The book is replete with lore, superstitions and traditions, including prayers, passed down by the Spanish conquistadores and padres. It is also full of love in the time of war. A black Lieutenant Jefferson from East St. Louis, Missouri, returns to Misamis Occidental to ask for the hand of the beauty who had stolen his heart during `peace time.'It was no easy task for she belonged to a prominent family and at the time it was unthinkable for a lady of her status to marry a black man. Then there is literarily poor Julian in love with the youngest sister who has to prove his worth. The story of the third sister is more intriguing. The fate of her true love, Titoy, who joined the guerilla movement, is unknown after the war was declared over and Independence granted to the Philippine Islands. Should she wait for him or submit to the protestations of a persistent suitor who is acceptable to the family?  The reader will find it tantalizing to reach the final conclusions of these love stories. The stories share a common theme with a popular local song, " Sa Lungsod sa Buena Vista " (In the Town of Buena Vista). It tells of three sisters, of whom the youngest marries first and the oldest one cries but is consoled by the middle sister.
 The author emphasizes that it is up to the reader to decide for himself where the facts end and the fiction begins or vice-versa.
I recommend this book for students of history, medicine, sociology, architecture and those who just love a good story.

Arachelle Baduel-Jose, M.D.
July 6, 2013
2769120
Each of the three brothers represented a part of the Navy battles in the Pacific.  Their stories put a human face on the amazingly detailed descriptions of such a complicated war. The brothers themselves showed admirable strength, morality, grit, determination and compassion.  Their experiences drove the story of the war. At times I read with a map alongside the book. It was a very fulfilling experience.
2655647
This unflinching first person account of a patriotic19 year-old soldier's year in combat is a must read for those who wish to better understand the impact of war on those we send to fight our battles.  In skillful and fast-paced prose, Michael Moynihan gives the reader an intimate, and often terrifying glimpse, into the the day-to-day life of a "grunt," the foot-soldier on who's back the burden of war most heavily falls.  Moynihan's clear-eyed, unsentimental, and at times philosophically wry memoir makes the reader part of his battle for survival in the jungles of Vietnam and Cambodia, and helps the reader feel the insanity and horror of battle.  For those who lived through the era of the Vietnam conflict, it will bring back vivid memories, and shed new light, on the turmoil of that time, and it's effect on the psyches of those who were caught up in the conflict.  For those born after that era, for whom the Vietnam War may be just a chapter in a school history book, it will provide a deeper insight into the true cost of that war, and in essence all wars, for us as human beings, and for the planet we inhabit. I give this book my highest recommendation.
182748
A well written book about the horrors one man and his fellow Marines faced in the Pacific theater during WWII.
4637758
Dan King has provided an invaluable resource to the story of the Japanese Naval Pilots who fought in World War II.  This is a valuable history about World War II and specifically the Pacific theatre of the war.  It is interesting that when the war ended in 1945 that the Japanese were closed about the war.  Over the years, thousands of books about the Pacific War have been published from the views of the victors.  However, even to this day the Japanese history of the war by those who fought in it haven't been published often and overall there are not that many books that are told from the Japanese side of the war.  Mr. King was able to interview many Japanese pilots who fought and survived World War II.  Mr. King's mastery of the Japanese language, customs, and culture provided him with the opportunity to interview these pilots and gain their trust.  The result is a fascinating account of these pilots experiences of fighting the U.S. and the Allies in the Pacific theatre.
Dan King has interviewed 97 WWII Japanese Army and Navy veterans, and met well over 250 of them in the past 30 years. Which resulted in this fascinating and invaluable book.  The pilots tell their story of how they entered the Japanese Navy and became pilots thru vigorous and extremely tough tests and training.  Those that passed these tests then became apprentices-junior pilots.  When the war came, these pilots were just like any war pilots who lost friends, had horrific encounters with the enemy, had humorous tales, and gained a respect and insight to the enemy that defeated Japan.
Mr. King explains the ranking, the tests, the training of how young men became pilots, and believe me it was extremely difficult.  The pilots had to obey rigorous orders from their superiors and their discipline was amazing.  What is difficult to read is how these pilots were able to shoot down and score victories over U.S. and allied pilots in battles of the Pacific.  But these pilots tell the history without boasting or exagerating their experiences.  The pilots also tell their experiences in being shot down at times, losing their friends and fellow pilots, and experiencing great sadness and dispair of how the Japan was losing the war after 1942.  Most of the pilots who were interviewed were in their late 80's and early 90's and by now most of them have passed away.
This outstanding book is a must have for any historian be it amateur or professional to have in their library, also anyone who is interested in the Pacific theatre of World War II.  It is an excellent and fascinating history told by the men who were defeated by the U.S. during World War II, and their perspective of the war is fascinating to read.  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
170659
A young reporter makes his way to Indonesia during the final years of the 20th century, where he finds himself thrust head-long into a stretch of turmoil pulling at the archipelago. As a newsman, Richard Lloyd Parry seems to have had a nose for finding trouble, or alternatively, trouble seems to have had an uncanny way of finding him. While a non-fiction book, this descriptive, first-hand account of Parry's reporting from Indonesia can at times read like a work of fiction, making it a page turner for its readers. The book is about violence and being afraid. It is a tale of a young man's adventures, love of a foreign land, loss of innocence, and the loss of a dream. More to the point, this book is about the author's experiences in Indonesia, and his self-reflections on these events.

The book is separated into three sections, each dealing with a different variety of turmoil impacting the country at the time. The first section relates Parry's encounters while reporting on cannibalism and communal violence on the island of Borneo. The eerie calm in which those interviewed explain the terror which swept through their villages is discomforting. One such individual, a pastor, smiles a "glassy grin" while relating an account of cannibalism; justifying the act by saying that it was "Not murder, but the shortening of one's life to release them from suffering."

The second section of the book covers the violence surrounding the end of Suharto's rule. Student protests calling for his ouster were met with bloody reprisals by the country's military. Riots gripped Java, leading to the burning of homes and business (many with people still trapped inside). The images painted are disturbing and leave the reader questioning, much like the author, the violence which took so many lives.

The final section of the book explores the struggle for independence in what is now East Timor. This last section, seems to this reader, to have been the most difficult for Parry to come to emotional grips with. Parry witnessed first-hand the brutal military tactics of the Indonesian government and their use of paramilitary gangs to spread terror. The experience seems to have scarred the author, who laments how events unfolded there.

The recounting of the author's time in Indonesia make for interesting and worthwhile reading. Having lived in Indonesia for a year myself (albeit not during a time of turmoil), I found Parry's writings to ring true and was surprised at how reading the book served as a catalyst for a flood of memories of time spent there. For those interested in understanding a bit more about Indonesia, or if you are looking for a page turning read, this book is for you.

See this and other reviews on books concerning Asia at ObservAsia.com
2826418
Well done, Mr. Makos. You managed to capture the experiences of US Marnes in the Pacific war through their own words. Many war histories take a detached scholarly view, but by using the words of those you fought there, you were able to convey the emotion of the soldiers, from hatred to compassion, from fear to joy, and most of all, pride, patroitism, and self-reliance.

I recommend this book to those who have a good understanding of the Pacific war, but would like to get a better sense of what it was like to actually fight the island war. By the end of the book, you'll have a greater appreciation for what our soldiers accomplished.
3296281
An extremely courageous undertaking...many detailed volumes have previously been written on World War II at the specific battle level that to imagine a one-volume account of the whole war which is not only useful but also readable seems initially to be a ridiculous proposition. Robert Leckie, however, pulls it off marvelously and earns his reputation as a "masterful historian" with this epic work.
Starting at Versaille following the dreadful end of World War I and ending on the deck of the Missouri battleship for the formal Japanese surrender, this account (in over 900 pages of extremely small type) covers all the major details with surprising comprehensiveness while at the same time not sacrificing that important readability component. If one were to combine this book with the DVD issue of the classic WWII saga "The World at War", you'd get a beguiling experience of the events that continue to shape our world today.
Leckie's experience at extolling just the right amount of battle detail while balancing the "human" side of the struggle is really masterful...each period of the War is told in easily read chapters and paragraphs and although at times episodic, makes this work one that can easily be started and stopped at short intervals.
The post WWI German and Italian economies are the main impetus for the development of Fascism and Leckie develops this plot with wonderful biographies of Mussolini and Hitler...the rise of the Third Reich follows and Leckie explains this with deft political discussion as well as with many first-hand accounts from Generals down to the every-day Berliner. The English and French make little attempt at interdiction and Hitler is off on his dillusional nationalism...the invasion of Poland is just the start of the "empire building" that lasts for almost six more years.
The Japanese rise and ultimate invasion of Pearl Harbor are integrated as well and the reader really gets a true feeling of the coming of war. Leckie's previously published works on the Southwest Pacific theatre are obviously used here and thus makes for enticing reading at the battles for Guadalcanal and the Phillipines...also, his depiction of MacArthur goes against the "standard" history and is a refreshing point in this story.
The Allied invasion of Europe and the "island hopping" in the Pacific are discussed in full military detail (again, just the right amount) as are the many first hand soldier accounts of those battles that add depth and immediacy. The highlights of this work (in my opinion) are the fall of the Third Reich and the subsequent Hitler suicide; the American homefront and what it meant to a struggling American economy; the Normandy invasions and subsequent breakout and, finally, a completely comprehensive and disturbing summary of the Holocaust. Leckie adroitly mixes details with his amazing story-telling ability that leaves the reader with a pleasingly full knowledgable experience. This truly is THE text to start any study of WWII. The only criticism I'd add is the lack of maps...the afore mentioned Pacific theatre discussion would have been exceedingly better had Leckie included maps...
For an initial undertaking of serious study of this conflict, I'd challenge anyone to find a better starting point than "Deliverd from Evil"...I give this a very high recommendation.
2781557
The China-Burma-India (CBI)theater of war has been largely ignored when the history of WWII is recounted, but the many army nurses who served in the jungles of Burma experienced a part of it that is known only to them. This is a wonderfully well-written memoir of one of those women, who left the comfort of the U.S. to live in a world that is hard to describe, because of the hardship and circumstances war demands. The Japanese had invaded China and the Allies were trying to defeat them from bases in China, India and Burma. These nurses cared for not only the American troops who were involved on the ground and in the air, but the many Chinese troops. The foreign language and customs were an obstacle in themselves, let alone the climate and strange illnesses that confronted medical units who were assigned to these countries. The author, a U.S. Army nurse, tells of her life during this time, and how the romance that she found there helped her live through it. My book, NO TIME FOR FEAR, VOICES OF AMERICAN MILITARY NURSES IN WORLD WAR II, has oral histories of nurses who were there at the same time, and each has a strong story to tell.
1328554
"Victory in Defeat" is the true-life story of the brave marines and contractors who were captured on Wake Island by the Japanese in December 1941.  Gregory Urwin uses the personal stories of the survivors to retell the harrowing tale of their capture and more than three years of captivity in China and Japan.  It was a fascinating story of bravery, depravity, and even humanity.  This will be a delightful read for both the casual reader interested in Marine Corps history, or for the more serious students of military history.

Urwin opens the book by analyzing the Japanese amphibious assaults on Wake Island  in December 1941 (Of note, the Marines defense of Wake Island during the first assault stands as the only successful defense against an amphibious assault in the Pacific during World War II).  The Japanese, now reinforced with airpower from two carriers returning from the attack on Pearl Harbor, began their second assault on December 17th.  Major Deveraux, the Marine commander, realizing the futility of the situation, reluctantly surrendered the garrison beginning their almost four years in captivity.

Using primary sources such as personal interviews and secret journals kept by the Marines and contractors to reconstruct events, Urwin reconstructs the events of the next few years.  The prisoners spent a few months at Wake Island before they were forced to transit the Pacific Ocean aboard one of the famed Hell ships.  They disembarked outside of Shanghai, China where they lived until the Allied advance forced the Japanese to move the prisoners to other camps across Korea and Japan.  Urwin meticulously accounts for the locations of each group of prisoners as they moved from camp to camp.

As with any tale, there were heroes and villains.  Urwin attributes Deveraux's leadership  as a key factor that enabled the prisoners to survive the war with a much higher survival rate than other camps across the Pacific.  The other was Mr. Edouard Egle, the local Red Cross representative in Shanghai.  Egle's deliveries of Red Cross relief supplies ensured the prisoners had a regular supplement to their meager diets.

I have read other books about the inhumane treatment of Prisoners of War by the Japanese such as "<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Slaughter-at-Sea-The-Story-of-Japan-s-Naval-War-Crimes/dp/1591142636/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Slaughter at Sea: The Story of Japan's Naval War Crimes</a>" and "<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Flyboys-A-True-Story-of-Courage/dp/0316105848/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Flyboys: A True Story of Courage</a>".  With a few exceptions, "Victory in Defeat" stands in stark contrast to the war crimes documented in these two other works.  Despite the uncomfortable topic, it was a very enjoyable read.
4389908
Gritty, brutal, and unrelenting, 'The Pacific' takes an unflinching look at the Pacific Theater of Operations in World War II.  All due respect to the heroes whose story is told in 'Band of Brothers', you won't find the same sometimes-sanguine tone or bon homme in 'the Pacific'.While 'Band' focuses on the bond formed between men thrown into the cauldron of war (a bond that in many ways is responsible for their emotional survival), 'The Pacific' concerns itself with the psychic damage done to the individual soldier in the PTO.
Perhaps it was due to how different the environment was, or maybe how different the Asian enemy differed both physically and mentally from them,  but regardless of the reasons why, 'The Pacific' focuses on exactly how traumatic the experience was from the point of view of three Marines on the front lines of the conflict.
As far as a film in its own right, 'The Pacific' is every bit the equal of 'Band of Brothers'. As a chronicle of the events it depicts, it appears to be accurate.  (It's primary source are accounts from two Marines: "U.S. Marines: With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa" by Eugene Sledge; and "Helmet for My Pillow" by Robert Leckie.  Two other books served as source material in part as well.  Parts of Bastilione's tale are taken from a secondary source.)  As a conveyance for a potent and hard-bitten story about the war as fought by Marines across various islands dotting the South Pacific... well, it is emotionally raw and certainly memorable (or at least I found it to be).
I would highly recommend 'The Pacific', especially to those that have watched 'Band of Brothers'; it not only provides an account of what was happening in the other Theater, but it also offers an account of the war on a more personal level, from soldiers who did not have a close-knit group of men immediately available to provide them support in dealing with the horrors they faced.
1649719
This book is unique among war memoirs.  E. B. Sledge gives us an unvarnished description of life and death for the front line marines.  The battles for Peleliu and Okinawa are remembered as two of the most savage battles during the Pacific campaign.  The fact that the Japanese soldiers preferred death to surrender made these battles especially gruesome and barbaric.

Sledge describes for us the horrors of the battle field.  The Marines endured extremely harsh conditions.  From the heat and coral dust of Peleliu to the rain and muck of Okinawa, the marines faced death from the climate as well as the Japanese soldiers.

The Marines were ordered to attack against a well fortified enemy.  They were driven to exhaustion carrying ammo and supplies to places mechanized vehicles could not go.  And they lived for weeks amongst rotting corpses, squirming maggots, and human excrement.

The experience of war for the front line soldier is very different than our sanitized movie version.  "Sledgehammer" shows us what battle is really like.  In the end, for Sledge, there was no glorious victory. There was only the knowledge that he was one of the lucky ones.

I liked this book.  If you are a military history buff, I believe you would like it too.  The descriptions of the battle field were gruesome, but not graphic.
2199301
This is the WW2 memoir of Francis Catanzaro, who served as a rifleman in the 41st infantry division in General MacArthur's Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA).  Catanzaro grew up in St. Louis, and entered service in the Army in July, 1943 after being drafted.  He made it overseas in time to join the 41st before their invasion of Hollandia in New Guinea in April, 1944.  He then participated in the invasion of Biak, the greatest test of the division, and finally, in the southern Philippines, the invasion of Zamboanga, where, the song says, "The monkeys have no tails."

The author states in the preface that his intent was to, "...write a story about the war that my grandchildren could read and enjoy..."  So from the beginning, readers know that they will be "spared" the excessive boozing, women chasing, profanity and gore that characterize so many war memoirs.  In addition to the sanitized narrative, I found two features that make Catanzaro's story stand out from most of the rest.

First of all, this is the only memoir I can recall reading that is written by a draftee.  Most firsthand accounts of infantry combat in the Pacific I've encountered are from Marines, who joined as soon as they could.  Catanzaro makes no mention of why he didn't volunteer before being drafted.  A discussion of this by the author, however brief, would have added clarity to the beginning of the story.

Second, Catanzaro's story is rare because it comes from an overlooked theater of the Pacific War.  In the popular American mind, Midway, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Iwo Jima and Okinawa all stand out.  Very few people other than Pacific War enthusiasts know about the fighting in New Guinea and recognize names like Buna, Gona, Sanananda, Lae, Salamaua, Nadzab, Cape Gloucester, Hollandia or Biak.  All of these locations fell in MacArthur's SWPA, but the historiography of these campaigns is dwarfed by that of the more popular locations, which largely feature marines doing the fighting, although army units were present as well.  This dearth of coverage of the SWPA alone makes Catanzaro's story valuable.

Catanzaro's writing is straightforward and factual and his prose, well, prosaic.  Readers of his memoir will experience neither the bawdiness of Samuel Hynes, the eye for irony of Alvin Kernan, nor the pathos of Eugene Sledge.  However, a couple of passages still made a memorable impression on me.  The first of these has a patrol (that doesn't include Catanzaro) go out scouting for Japanese positions.  When the patrol returns late, almost all of the men are drunk.  It turns out they found a cache of liquor left behind by Japanese troops in a cave.  The other memorable image has another soldier, at night, sharing a foxhole with Catanzaro, and standing watch.  Catanzaro awakens to find the soldier looking toward the next foxhole, his face only inches from a poncho hanging at the side of the foxhole.  In the total darkness of the jungle night, the soldier had become disoriented.  This is reminiscent of Private Grayrock, in Ambrose Bierce's Civil War story, the Mocking-Bird, who becomes similarly disoriented while standing guard on a dark night.

Catanzaro does not shed much new light on the life of an infantryman in the Pacific in WW2.  His memoir should be required reading, however, for those with a specific interest in the SWPA and MacArthur's campaigns therein.
4123420
In telling the story of his life with understated modesty, the author, with the help of his niece, successfully subsumed his ego into a broad epic, a narrative of the transformation of Hong Kong. From the time Stanley Kwan was born to when he emigrated to Toronto, the population in Hong Kong grew roughly ten fold. The transformation from being a British colony to a modern megapolis was fascinating as seen from his eyes. Its safe to say that most of the people in todays Hong Kong do not know much of the story of the city, much less the rest of us that are mere third party witnesses.

I am now in my 70s and the friends and classmates from Hong Kong that I knew from my college days remind me of Kwan. Their father or grandfather had multiple wives and thus were members of huge families. Dominated by Confucian values, only the first born of the first wife enjoyed privileged lives. The rest had to fight for their share of patriarchal attention and an opportunity to a better education and career. Those that succeed, like Kwans daughters, found their way to schools in the West and established their careers outside of Hong Kong.

Even though the invasion by Japan interrupted his higher education, the schooling under the loose controls of the British administration had already taught the author Chinese and English in addition to his native speaking Cantonese. His language proficiency gave him opportunities to work with the Nationalist Chinese government during the war years and the American Consulate in Hong Kong in post war years. Step by step as he moved from one post to another, we saw how Hong Kong was also evolving and changing.

By telling the stories of his brothers, two of whom left Hong Kong to live and work in the mainland shortly after the Communist takeover, we also learn how the tumult inside China affected his family and made his feelings of patriotism and identification with China more ambivalent. His book helped me understand the origin of the Hong Kong mindset: Make as much money as you can, while you can. After WWII, the feeling of uncertainty on the fate of Hong Kong hung heavily on the people of Hong Kong.

This book is a wonderful read on the history of Hong Kong. Too bad the author left for Canada in 1984. While negotiations had already begun between London and Beijing, it was quite some time before the handover on July 1, 1997. The book does not explain why or how the city has been transformed to the state it is in today.

Perhaps the story he told on the near fatal run on the Hang Seng Bank is symptomatic of the Hong Kong Chinese inherent lack of self-confidence and a western worship mindset. In April 1965 a run was made on the bank, heretofore the strongest among the Chinese owned banks in Hong Kong. Facing insolvency, the owners had to sell a controlling interest to the British owned Hong Kong Shanghai Bank. As soon as the deal was announced, the panic went away.
4095113
This is a remarkable book that will move you.
The author was an American soldier stationed in the Phillipines when WWII erupted.  Captured along with our other soldiers, the author survived the Bataan Death March, prision camp, ship transport and imprisonment in Japan.  Most of his comrades and friends did not.
Stewart is witness to the horrible conditions, atrocities, death and inhumanity inflicted by his Japanese captors upon our soldiers.  These men were starved, denied water, beaten, worked to death and stripped naked by an enemy who seemed not to know the spark of God or humanity.  The story is brutal, but provides an important witness of how man can be both a brutal animal and also an enlightened spirit.
Stewart and his friends survived their ordeals with a combination of Christian faith, love for each other and plain old tough mindedness.  Challenged every day, those attributes helped the men in riding out these toughest of circumstances.
This book is not a history of the prisoner experience, nor a detailed history of Stewart's own experience.  Rather, he uses both the searing atrocities visited upon his countrymen and the noble response of these brave men to present a richly textured testimony.  The book is important for what is shows of the nature and history of the human animal.  This book will stay with you.
3152686
Author Eugene Sledge served as a mortarman with the 1st Marine Division during the battles of Peleliu and Okinawa.  His devasting account of the horrors he witnessed are a must read for anyone interested in WWII.  This could be the best personal memoir of combat ever written.  If you want a full appreciation of what the generation of Americans who endured WWII combat went through, buy this book now.
Sledge takes the reader with him as he joins the Marine Corp, goes through boot camp, and ends up with the grizzled combat veterans of the 1st Marine Division.  He takes us through his initiation of combat on Peleliu, a coral island which had some of the worst fighting, up to that point, in the Pacific.  Today, there is a general belief that the battle for Peleliu was unnecessary, owing to the advancement of the schedule for the invasion of the Philippines.  If this was an unneeded battle, Sledge shows in full detail the horrible sacrifice young Americans suffered.
His account of the battle of Okinawa is even more devasting.  Where Peleliu was a dry, parched hell, Okinawa is a hell of rain, mud, muck and decay.  Sledge is unstinting in exposing the horror and ever-present danger facing those in the frontlines.  He shows the casual brutality of combat, and does not turn away from showing the hatred most Marines had for the Japanese. He shows the close bonds that develop between the members of a combat unit, the terror of shell-shocked soldiers, dodging bullets & shells on stretcher bearer duty, the stench of fighting in the middle of human decay, and the loss that is felt when friends die.
"With the Old Breed" is mandatory reading for anyone interested in WWII.