On the island of Guadalcanal, a 2,000-yard-long ridge rose from the jungle canopy. Behind it lay the air base of Henderson Field. And if Henderson Field fell, it would mean the almost certain death or capture of all 12,500 Marines on the island . . . Positioned on the ridge were the hard-fighting men of Edson’s Raiders of the 1st Marine Raider Battalion. They were the United States Marine Corps’ best of the best, and they knew defeat and retreat were simply not options. For two hellish nights in September 1942, about 840 Marines—commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Merritt Austin “Red Mike” Edson—fought one of the most pivotal battles of World War II in the Pacific, clinging desperately to their position on what would soon be known as Bloody Ridge. Bloody Ridge and Beyond is the story of how these men showed courage and valor in the face of overwhelming numbers, as told by Marlin Groft, a man who was a member of this incredible fighting force. Includes photographs

Discusses the makings of the "American Pacific" locality/location/identity as space and ground of cultural production, and the way this region can be linked to "Asia" and "Pacific" as well as to "American mainland"

Provides an account of how Lieutenant Colonel Evans Carlson helped lay the foundation for Special Forces in the modern military through his leadership of the 2nd Raider Battalion in the jungles of Guadalcanal during World War II where he and his troops employed guerilla tactics against an entrenched Japanese force to disrupt their supply chain, inflict combat defeats, and gather valuable intelligence.

Based primarily on interviews with the marines who were there, this volume reconstructs the six weeks spent in the Pacific theater of World War II by the First Marine Parachute Division. One of the prime impetuses for the volume is to highlight the neglected, yet extremely costly, contributions made by the division to the assault on Guadalcanal in

Expanded edition with a new chapter on the final battles of the Normandy campaign.

One of the bloodiest battles in Marine Corps history, Operation Stalemate, as Peleliu was called, was overshadowed by the Normandy landings. It was also, in time, judged by most historians to have been unnecessary; though it had been conceived to protect MacArthur’s flank in the Philippines, the U.S. fleet’s carrier raids had eliminated Japanese airpower, rendering Peleliu irrelevant. Nevertheless, the horrifying number of casualties sustained there (71% in one battalion) foreshadowed for the rest of the war: rather than fight to the death on the beach, the Japanese would now defend in depth and bleed the Americans white. Drawing extensively on personal interviews, the Marine Corps History Division’s vast oral history and photographic collection, and many never-before-published sources, this book gives us a new and harrowing vision of what really happened at Peleliu--and what it meant. Working closely with two of the 1st Regiment’s battalion commanders--Ray Davis and Russ Honsowetz--Marine Corps veteran and military historian Dick Camp recreates the battle as it was experienced by the men and their officers. Soldiers who survived the terrible slaughter recall the brutality of combat against an implacable foe; they describe the legendary “Chesty” Puller, leading his decimated regiment against enemy fortifications; they tell of Davis, wounded but refusing evacuation while his men were under fire; and of a division commander who rejects Army reinforcements. Most of all, their richly detailed, deeply moving story is one of desperate combat in the face of almost certain failure, of valor among comrades joined against impossible odds.

Chronicling the growth of a recruit from boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, to a seasoned troop leader, this memoir also relates the experiences of the 200 marines in A Company, First Battalion, Second Marines, as they engaged in island warfare in the South Pacific at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan and Tinian.

The true story of Elizabeth Haysom and Jens Soering, convicted of the double murder of her parents, Derek and Nancy Haysom.

A stirring narrative of World War II's final major battle—the Pacific war's largest, bloodiest, most savagely fought campaign—the last of its kind. On Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945, more than 184,000 US troops began landing on the only Japanese home soil invaded during the Pacific war. Just 350 miles from mainland Japan, Okinawa was to serve as a forward base for Japan's invasion in the fall of 1945. Nearly 140,000 Japanese and auxiliary soldiers fought with suicidal tenacity from hollowed-out, fortified hills and ridges. Under constant fire and in the rain and mud, the Americans battered the defenders with artillery, aerial bombing, naval gunfire, and every infantry tool. Waves of Japanese kamikaze and conventional warplanes sank 36 warships, damaged 368 others, and killed nearly 5,000 US seamen. When the slugfest ended after 82 days, more than 125,000 enemy soldiers lay dead—along with 7,500 US ground troops. Tragically, more than 100,000 Okinawa civilians perished while trapped between the armies. The brutal campaign persuaded US leaders to drop the atomic bomb instead of invading Japan. Utilizing accounts by US combatants and Japanese sources, author Joseph Wheelan endows this riveting story of the war's last great battle with a compelling human dimension.