Guadalcanal Marine

by Kerry L. Lane, Kenneth Lee (Narrator)

Kerry Lane, who enlisted as a sixteen-year-old farm boy from Virginia, battled the Japanese at Guadalcanal and rose to heroism powering a bulldozer to bridge "Suicide Creek" in the swamps on Cape Gloucester. There he led his Marine comrades to victory.

For this action, Lane, then a sergeant, was recommended for the Navy's highest honor, the Navy Cross, and received the Silver Star Medal.

In Guadalcanal Marine, he recounts the dark reality of combat experienced by the men of the 1st Marine Division in the Pacific theater and brings to life the struggles of his companions as they achieve these two astonishing victories.

Lane describes the trials of the common Marine serving in the first grueling island campaign. In vivid prose he tells of joining the service before the war and of training. Soon after the shocking news of Pearl Harbor, he and his trusted comrades fight the Japanese in one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific.

In the tropics, Lane and his companions suffer malaria and dysentery, endure jungle rot and oppressive heat, and grapple with an enemy who fights to the death. Throughout the book, Lane bares the experience of the average Marine and his historic World War II journey, revealing how one sixteen-year-old farm boy became a Corps hero and ultimately finished his military career as a lieutenant colonel.

Genres: World War II

Audible Audio

First published September 1, 2004

Reviews

[Bon Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time to revisit good ol' Pacific series. As much as I remember, the stuff I've seen there are faithful to this book (and many other similar ones, I guess). The point being, I'm grateful to each and every one of these accounts because only after reading and listening all of them can we have slim chance of understanding the sacrifice, and thus the gift of freedom, given by "so few for so many", to paraphrase the famous speech.

[Davina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story, good man. Nothing particularly new in this one, but a good solid contribution to the Guadalcanal narrative.