Synopses & Reviews
Originally penned for his Marine buddies, now, WWII veteran Chuck Tatum's coveted book, Red Blood, Black Sand, is available to audiences worldwide. Red Blood, Black Sand, is Chuck's true story, his first-hand account of Iwo Jima, the Marine Corps' most savage battle. Best-selling author/historian Stephen E. Ambrose praised Red Blood, Black Sand, saying, In my judgment no combat veterans' memoir is better . . . and only a handful are equal. Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg agreed, and bought the rights to use Red Blood, Black Sand as a credited source for their new, $200-million-dollar HBO mini-series, The Pacific. In addition, they made Chuck Tatum a central character of the series, portrayed by actor Ben Esler. Red Blood, Black Sand, transports the reader back to 1944, when the Marine Corps built a fresh division, the 5th, for an apocalyptic battle: Iwo Jima. This gripping narrative follows Chuck's life-or-death training at Camp Pendleton where Chuck learned machine guns, the tools of his trade, from his new mentor: Medal of Honor recipient John Basilone. Chuck's colorful storytelling takes the reader on his voyage overseas, from the raucous port of Pearl Harbor with its gambling, gals, and tattoos, to the island of death itself, where Chuck hit the black sand beach of Iwo Jima, an 18-year-old Marine machine gunner in the climactic battle of the war. This is the story of Chuck's two weeks in hell, where he fought alongside Basilone and watched his hero fall, where enemy infiltrators stalked the night and snipers haunted the day, and where Chuck would see his friends whittled away in an ear-shattering, earth-shaking, meat grinder of a battle.Before the end, Chuck would find himself, like his hero Basilone, standing alone, blind with rage, firing a machine gun from the hip, while in a personal battle to keep his sanity. This is the island, the heroes, and the tragedy of Iwo Jima, through the eyes of the battle's greatest storyteller, Chuck Tatum. Includes new bonus chapters: Chuck's thoughts on The Pacific series and actor Ben Esler's On Set Memories of Portraying Chuck Tatum.
Review
andldquo;In my judgment no combat veteranandrsquo;s memoir is betterandhellip;and only a handful are equal.andrdquo;-- Stephen E. Ambrose
Review
andquot;Chuck Tatum was there, a participant in and a witness to history. If it is possible to answer the question, 'What was it like?', he tells you in this book.andquot; -- Tom Hanks
Review
andldquo;In my judgment no combat veteranandrsquo;s memoir is betterandhellip;and only a handful are equal.andrdquo;-- Stephen E. Ambrose
Review
andquot;Chuck Tatum was there, a participant in and a witness to history. If it is possible to answer the question, 'What was it like?', he tells you in this book.andquot; -- Tom Hanks
Review
andldquo;In my judgment, no combat veteranandrsquo;s memoir is better . . . and only a handful are equal.andrdquo;andmdash;Stephen E. Ambrose
andldquo;Chuck Tatum was there, a participant in and a witness to history. If it is possible to answer the question andlsquo;What was it like?andrsquo;, he tells you in this book.andrdquo; andmdash;Tom Hanks
Review
andldquo;In my judgment, no combat veteranandrsquo;s memoir is better . . . and only a handful are equal.andrdquo;andmdash;Stephen E. Ambrose
andldquo;Chuck Tatum was there, a participant in and a witness to history. If it is possible to answer the question andlsquo;What was it like?andrsquo;, he tells you in this book.andrdquo; andmdash;Tom Hanks
Synopsis
In 1944, the U.S. Marines were building the 5th Marine Divisionandmdash;also known as andldquo;The Spearheadandrdquo;andmdash;in preparation for the invasion of the small, Japanese-held island of Iwo Jimaandhellip;. When Charlie Tatum entered Camp Pendleton to begin Marine boot camp, he was just a smart-aleck teenager eager to serve his country. Little did he know that he would be training under the watchful eyes of a living legend of the Corpsandmdash;Congressional Medal of Honor recipient John Basilone, who had almost-single-handedly fought off a Japanese force of three-thousand on Guadalcanal, and survived.
It was from Basilone and other andquot;Old Breedandquot; sergeants that Tatum would learn how to fight like a Marine and act like a man, as he went through the hell of boot camp to the raucous port of Pearl Harbor with its gambling, gals, and tattoos, to the island of death itself, where he hit the black sand of Iwo Jima with thirty thousand other Marines in the climactic battle of the Pacific Theater.
It was on that godforsaken strip of land that Tatum and Basilone would meet again under a hellish rain of bullets and bombsandmdash;and where Tatum would make his own mark, carrying ammo for the machine gun carried by Basilone. Together they would lead the breakout off the beach, driving through and destroying a swath of enemy soldiers in the first man-to-man combat on Iwo Jima.
Red Blood, Black Sand is the story of Chuckandrsquo;s two weeks in hell, where he would watch his hero, Basilone, fall, where the enemy stalked the night, where snipers haunted the day, and where Chuck would see his friends whittled away in an eardrum-shattering, earth-shaking, meat grinder of a battle.
Before the end, Chuck would find himself, like Basilone, standing alone, blind with rage, firing a machine gun from the hip, in a personal battle to kill a relentless foe he had come to hate. This is the island, the heroes, and the tragedy of Iwo Jima, through the eyes of the battleandrsquo;s greatest living storyteller, Chuck Tatum.
Synopsis
In 1944, the U.S. Marines were building the 5th Marine Divisionandmdash;also known as andldquo;The Spearheadandrdquo;andmdash;in preparation for the invasion of the small, Japanese-held island of Iwo Jima. . .and#160; When Chuck Tatum began Marine boot camp, he was just a smart-aleck teenager eager to serve his country. Little did he know that he would be training under a living legend of the Corpsandmdash;Medal of Honor recipient John Basilone, who had almost single-handedly fought off a Japanese force of three thousand on Guadalcanal.
It was from Basilone and other sergeants that Tatum would learn how to fight like a Marine and act like a manandmdash;skills he would need when he hit the black sand of Iwo Jima with thirty thousand other Marines.
Red Blood, Black Sand is the story of Chuckandrsquo;s two weeks in hell, where he would watch his hero, Basilone, fall, where the enemy stalked the night, where snipers haunted the day, and where Chuck would see his friends whittled away in an eardrum-shattering, earth-shaking, meat grinder of a battle.
This is the island, the heroes, and the tragedy of Iwo Jima, through the eyes of the battleandrsquo;s greatest living storyteller, Chuck Tatum.
About the Author
Chuck Tatum is a World War II Marine who trained under legendary Medal of Honor recipient Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone and fought with him on Iwo Jima. There, Chuck received the Bronze Star for firing a machine gun from the hip while single-handedly covering the retrieval of two wounded comrades. Red Blood, Black Sand is one of four credited sources upon which the HBO miniseries The Pacific is based. Now eighty-three years old, Chuck sees this book as his final act of service, so readers will never forget the heroes he watched fight, live, and die on andldquo;the island that God forgot and gave to the Devil.andrdquo;