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.
McENERYโS RIFLE COMPANYโthe legendary K/3/5 of the First Marine Division, made famous by the HBO miniseries The Pacific โfought 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.
McEneryโs story is a no-holds-barred, gruntโs-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.
Review
"A thoroughly satisfying account of war in the South Pacific packed with fireworks, tragedy and horseplay."
โKirkus
โSloan is a master of that narrative genre at least as old as the Iliad , the combat narrative.โ
** โBill Marvel, Dallas Morning News**
โBattle reportage at its finest."โ Joseph E. Persico , author of Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour: Armistice Day 1918
โOne of [World War IIโs] eminent historians and storytellers.โโJohn D. Lukacs , author of Escape from Daveo
About the Author
Jim McEnery , born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, enlisted in the Marines in 1940 and fought in three major campaigns in the Pacific. Ninety-two, he now lives in Ocala, Florida.
Bill Sloan is the acclaimed author of more than a dozen books, including Brotherhood of Heroes and The Ultimate Battle. He lives in Dallas, Texas.