A Special Valor: The U.S. Marines & The Pacific War (1996) By Richard Wheeler
 
If the U.S. Marines gave birth to a legend in the halls of Montezuma in the nineteenth century, they added glorious lustre to it with their heroism and victories against the Japanese in World War II. For this vivid, foxhole view of the Marines' war, Richard Wheeler draws extensively on frontline eyewitness accounts of Marines and combat journalists and backs up their stories with official U.S. action reports and captured Japanese materials.

First published in 1983, the book describes in fascinating and exciting detail the heroic defence of Wake Island against an overwhelming enemy assault force. It traces the long bloody battle for Guadalcanal that brought the Marines their first victory and gave America and its allies control of the strategically important Soloman Islands. It follows the painful, island-by-island counterattack toward the Japanese homeland when the Marines created new legends at such places as Bougainville, Saipan, Tarawa, Guam, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. Here are the remarkable exploits of the Marines holding off Japanese assault waves at Heartbreak Ridge, storming across coral reefs, and struggling up the slopes of Mount Suribachi to raise the Stars and Stripes.
 
Hard Cover With Dust Jacket
360 pages
In Good Condition