{"product_id":"islands-of-the-damned-isbn-9780451232267","title":"Islands of the Damned","description":"\u003cb\u003eA remarkable eyewitness account of the most brutal combat of the Pacific War, from Peleliu to Okinawa, this is the true story of R.V. Burgin, the real-life World War II Marine Corps hero featured in HBO®'s \u003ci\u003eThe Pacific\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Read his story and marvel at the man...and those like him.”—Tom Hanks\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003eWhen a young Texan named R.V. Burgin joined the Marines 1942, he never imagined what was waiting for him a world away in the Pacific. There, amid steamy jungles, he encountered a ferocious and desperate enemy in the Japanese, engaging them in some of the most grueling and deadly fights of the war.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e In this remarkable memoir, Burgin reveals his life as a special breed of Marine. Schooled by veterans who had endured the cauldron of Guadalcanal, Burgin’s company soon confronted snipers, repulsed jungle ambushes, encountered abandoned corpses of hara-kiri victims, and warded off howling banzai attacks as they island-hopped from one bloody battle to the next. In his two years at war, Burgin rose from a green private to a seasoned sergeant, fighting from New Britain through Peleliu and on to Okinawa, where he earned a Bronze Star for valor.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e With unforgettable drama and an understated elegance, Burgin’s gripping narrative stands alongside those of classic Pacific chroniclers like Robert Leckie and Eugene Sledge—indeed, Burgin was even Sledge’s platoon sergeant. Here is a deeply moving account of World War II, bringing to life the hell that was the Pacific War.“R.V. Burgin is one of those American boys who became a Marine—no small feat. He then went across the Pacific, returning home to Jewett, Texas only after helping to save the world. Read his story and marvel at the man...and those like him.”\u003cb\u003e—Tom Hanks, Oscar-winning Actor and Star of \u003ci\u003eSaving Private Ryan\u003c\/i\u003e, Executive Producer of \u003ci\u003eBand of Brothers \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Pacific\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“An honest, straightforward memoir by an honest, straightforward man. Burgin has written an unforgettable, moving description of his experiences as an infantry Marine, from New Britain to Okinawa. The result is a classic combat account. I highly recommend this book.”\u003cb\u003e—John C. McManus, Author of \u003ci\u003eThe Dead and Those About to Die\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eSeptember Hope\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“[A] well-written, excellently detailed personal narrative...Time is thinning the ranks of America’s Pacific War veterans. But \u003ci\u003eIslands of the Damned \u003c\/i\u003eis a taut, engrossing, haunting book that will help keep their accomplishments and enormous sacrifices alive.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eDallas Morning News\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eR.V. Burgin\u003c\/b\u003e earned a Bronze Star for his actions in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. He was the platoon sergeant featured in Eugene Sledge's classic memoir, \u003ci\u003eWith the Old Breed\u003c\/i\u003e, and was portrayed by Martin McCann in HBO's miniseries \u003ci\u003eThe Pacific\u003c\/i\u003e. A native of Texas, he passed away in 2019 at the age of 96.Motors were gunning, pumping out stinking clouds of blue smoke when we climbed down the ladder into the cramped hold. After a morning up top washed by a steady sea breeze, our eyes burned. Below, it was close and hot as hell. We were burdened with combat packs, carbines, sidearms, first aid kits, KA-BAR knives, two canteens each, struggling to keep a foothold on the pitching deck. \u003cp\u003eI believed I was going to come back in one piece. There were guys I knew, Marines I fought alongside, who got a feeling their time was up. Once they got it you couldn’t talk them out of it. When we had been fighting to hang on to Walt’s Ridge on New Britain, Lonnie Howard said, “Burgin, if anything happens to me, I want you to take my watch.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“You’re crazy,” I told him. “You’ll be okay. Nothing’s going to happen to you.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat night one of our artillery shells hit nearby. The shrapnel killed Howard and another Marine, Robert McCarthy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMe, I was anxious and wary that morning off Peleliu. But I never thought for a minute I wouldn’t make it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e[We were in] one of the older amtracs, the ones without a drop-down back end. When we rolled up on the beach we’d have to scramble over the sides. That’s when the Japs would have a clear shot at us. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere were about twenty of us, plus the driver, probably a Navy man, all jammed together like toes in a shoe. While we waited, sailors topside looked us over, giving us the thumbs-up and shouting encouragement that we couldn’t hear over the noise. Finally the big clamshell doors of that LST—Landing Ship, Tank—cranked open. Number 13 shuddered, and we followed the other amtracs down the ramp, nosed into the water, and floated out into the bright morning sun.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt was a little past eight o’clock.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn amtrac at sea wallows like a buffalo. The flat-bottomed Higgins boats could do twelve knots. We barely managed four and a half, which is about as fast as a man can walk. Think of us walking to shore under fire. We circled for half an hour until the beach master dropped his red flag, the signal to form up and head for shore. Our battleships and cruisers had been working over the island since dawn, guns cracking like thunder. They paused long enough for the Dauntless dive bombers and TBMs to sweep in and dump their bombs. Then they started up again. After our wave got under way, a couple LSTs that were parked out on our flanks sent swarms of rockets screeching over our heads. I’d never heard a sound like that before. Something like cloth ripping. A curtain of black smoke hung over the whole beach. It looked like the island was on fire.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSomewhere along our way in Jap artillery found the range and started working us over. The last thousand yards we were under fire the whole way. Over the general racket I couldn’t hear bullets dinging Number 13, but we kept our heads down anyway. Shells were smacking the water all around us, raising big spikes of foam. Here and there other LSTs and Higgins boats would disappear in a roar of flame. The first bodies floated by. We’d see many more.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAbout seven hundred yards out, [our amtrac] lurched and halted, pitching us into each other. Treads flailed and something went grinding and scraping beneath our hull. We’d struck a reef. Now the Jap shells were landing closer—left, right and behind us. We sat there churning the water, and minutes seemed to drag by, though I’m sure only seconds were passing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOur sergeant, Johnny Marmet, leaned forward and stuck his .45 in the driver’s face.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“If you don’t get this son of a bitch moving, I’m going to by God shoot you in the head!” he shouted. “We’re sitting ducks out here!”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe driver was pushing and pulling controls, like a mad man trying to rock a car out of the mud. Treads were spinning, kicking up spray. Then something gently lifted us and we were moving again.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe instant we broke free, an explosion ripped the water right in front of us, dousing us with spray.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI made a quick mental calculation. All that time we’d been moving toward the shore, some Jap gunner was watching us, leading his target. When he figured the trajectory of his shell would intersect our path, he fired. The seconds we’d hung up on that reef were just long enough. If we’d been plowing forward we’d have ended up just where he calculated. That shell would have landed in our laps.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNone of us talked about it afterward. We were busy with other things. But I honestly believed it then, and I believe it today. That was a God thing that hung us up on that reef.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dutton Caliber","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46299957035237,"sku":"NP9780451232267","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780451232267.jpg?v=1767730222","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/islands-of-the-damned-isbn-9780451232267","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}