Hero of the Pacific: The Life of Marine Legend John Basilone
New York: John Wiley, 2010. Hardcover. Fine in fine dust jacket. Hardcover. x+ 254 pp. with bibliography, index. Biography that explores the life and death of U.S. Marine John Basilone, a man who, though now all but forgotten, was one of World War II's most celebrated figures. The Pacific island of Guadalcanal was a terrible place to fight a war but it was there, with malarial mosquitoes, equatorial temperatures, heavy rains, and dense jungle, that a shoeless, shirtless, mud-streaked Marine gunnery sergeant known to his buddies as "Milila John" first displayed the courage, tenacity, and devotion to duty that would define the remainder of his brief life andthe manner of his death two years later on Iwo Jima. Basilone endured as more than 3,000 crack Japanese troops stormed his machine gun positions in a relentless overnight battle in October, 1942. He calmly repaired a jammed machine gun even as the enemy rushed at him; abandoned the relative safety of a foxhole amid a hail of grenades and mortar shells to replenish diminishing ammo and water supplies; fought at close quarters with the few attackers who survived his withering fire; and more. Basilone was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Franklin Roosevelt as well as the Navy Cross and a Purple Heart. Fine / fine. Item #E34562
ISBN: 0470379413
Price: $11.95