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Edited by Tom McCarthy.
Softcover (5.5×8.5 inches). 310 pages. 2025.
This is a collection of 10 reprinted articles originally published from 1955 to 2023. They cover from WWI’s Belleau Wood to Afghanistan in 2005. Four are reprints of official USMC accounts and the remaining six are excerpts from Lyons Press books.
It’s less historical recap of a battle, although there is that dimension, but more the ground-level action of the Marines caught up in firefights and other events. Action abounds, mostly concerning battles: Belleau Wood, Pearl Harbor, Iwo Jima, Inchon, Khe Sahn, Gulf War, Hurricane relief, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
Chapter 9 (Fallujah 2004) is rather disappointing for one reason: I don’t know what happened to the puppy, which seemed more the main character than the author.
Other than that one, they read fine. Quite telling is the complete lack of maps or illustrations. That makes it less useful for tabletop warfare than it could be.
By changing periods, at least it’s not repetitious, although I would have liked a wider date range of stories back to the American Revolution. Ties go to the author, or in this case, the editor.
Enjoyed it.
— Reviewed by Russ Lockwood
