Synopses & Reviews
In the tradition of E.B. Sledge’s With the Old Breed, this is a Marine rifleman’s extraordinarily vivid, brutally candid memoir of what it was like on the front lines of World War II in the Pacific.In what may be the last memoir to be published by a living veteran of the pivotal invasion of Guadalcanal, which occurred almost seventy years ago, Marine Jim McEnery has teamed up with author Bill Sloan, “a master of…the combat narrative” (The Dallas Morning News) to create an unforgettably immersive chronicle of horror and heroism.
Made famous by the HBO miniseries The Pacific, McEnery’s rifle company—the legendry K/3/5 of the First Marine Division—fought in some of the most ferocious battles of the Pacific. In arresting detail, the author takes us back to Guadalcanal, where the Americans turned the tide of war against the Japanese; Cape Gloucester, where 1,300 Marines were killed or wounded; and to bloody Peleliu, where McEnery assumed command of the company and helped speed the final defeat of the Japanese garrison. From his evocative recollections of hand-to-hand fighting and the loss of buddies in hellish fighting to his frank portraits of legends like Colonel Lewis “Chesty” Puller and General Douglas MacArthur, McEnery’s gritty narrative is as valuable for its insights on a war increasingly lost to memory as it is terrifying and engrossing—a masterwork that no reader of military history can afford to pass up.
Review
"A thoroughly satisfying account of war in the South Pacific packed with fireworks, tragedy and horseplay."andlt;BRandgt; andlt;Bandgt;andlt;Iandgt;and#8212;Kirkusandlt;/Iandgt;andlt;/Bandgt;
Review
and#8220;Sloan is a master of that narrative genre at least as old as the andlt;iandgt;Iliadandlt;/iandgt;, the combat narrative.and#8221;andlt;BRandgt; andlt;bandgt;andlt;iandgt;and#8212;Bill Marvel, Dallas Morning Newsandlt;/iandgt;andlt;/bandgt;
Review
and#8220;Battle reportage at its finest."and#8212; andlt;Bandgt;Joseph E. Persicoandlt;/Bandgt;, author of andlt;Bandgt;andlt;Iandgt;Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour: Armistice Day 1918andlt;/Iandgt;andlt;/Bandgt;
Review
"One of [World War II's] eminent historians and storytellers."--
John D. Lukacs, author of
Escape from Daveo
Review
"Sloan
Review
and#8220;One of [World War IIand#8217;s] eminent historians and storytellers.and#8221;and#8212;andlt;Bandgt;John D. Lukacsandlt;/Bandgt;, author of andlt;Bandgt;andlt;iandgt;Escape from Daveoandlt;/iandgt;andlt;BRandgt; andlt;/Bandgt;
Synopsis
andlt;Bandgt;In what may be the last memoir to be published by a living veteran of the pivotal invasion of Guadalcanal, which occurred almost seventy years ago, Marine Jim McEnery has teamed up with author Bill Sloan to create an unforgettable chronicle of heroism and horror.andlt;/Bandgt; andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;andnbsp;McENERYand#8217;S RIFLE COMPANYand#8212;the legendary K/3/5 of the First Marine Division, made famous by the HBO miniseries andlt;Iandgt;The Pacificandlt;/Iandgt;and#8212;fought in some of the most ferocious battles of the war. In searing detail, the author takes us back to Guadalcanal, where American forces first turned the tide against the Japanese; Cape Gloucester, where 1,300 Marines were killed or wounded; and bloody Peleliu, where McEnery assumed command of the company and helped hasten the final defeat of the Japanese garrison after weeks of torturous cave-to-cave fighting. andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;McEneryand#8217;s story is a no-holds-barred, gruntand#8217;s-eye view of the sacrifices, suffering, and raw courage of the men in the foxholes, locked in mortal combat with an implacable enemy sworn to fight to the death. From bayonet charges and hand-to-hand combat to midnight banzai attacks and the loss of close buddies, the rifle squad leader spares no details, chronicling his odyssey from boot camp through twenty-eight months of hellish combat until his eventual return home. He has given us an unforgettable portrait of men at war.
About the Author
Jim McEnery, born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, enlisted in the Marines in 1940. He served at Parris Island, South Carolina, and Norfolk and Quantico, Virginia, where he joined the First Marine Division's famed K-3-5 rifle company in June 1941 before shipping out to the Pacific after the United States entered World War II. He fought in three major campaigns against the Japanese -- Guadalcanal (the first offensive ground combat against the Japanese), Cape Gloucester, and Peleliu (perhaps the bloodiest land battle of the Pacific War). After the war, he moved to New Jersey and worked at Rutgers University until he retired. He lives in Ocala, Florida.
Bill Sloan is a respected military historian and the author of more than a dozen books, including Brotherhood of Heroes; The Ultimate Battle; and Undefeated. A former investigative reporter and feature writer for the Dallas Times-Herald, where he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, Sloan lives in Dallas, Texas.