Islands of the Damned

One of the real-life heroes featured in HBO(r)'s The Pacific tells his own "unforgettable, moving" (John C. McManus, author of Alamo in the Ardennes) true story-now in paperback. A 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(r)'s The Pacific. "Read his story and marvel at the man...and those like him."--Tom Hanks When 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. 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