Audiobook8 hours
Hell in the Pacific: A Marine Rifleman's Journey from Guadalcanal to Peleliu
Written by Jim McEnery and Bill Sloan
Narrated by Robert Fass
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
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About this audiobook
In what may be the last memoir to be published by a living veteran of the pivotal invasion of Guadalcanal, which occurred almost seventy years ago, Marine Jim McEnery has teamed up with author Bill Sloan to create an unforgettably immersive chronicle of horror and heroism.Made famous by the HBO miniseries The Pacific, McEnery's rifle company-the legendary K/3/5 of the First Marine Division-fought in some of the most ferocious battles of the Pacific. In arresting detail, the author takes us back to Guadalcanal, where the Americans turned the tide of war against the Japanese; Cape Gloucester, where 1,300 Marines were killed or wounded; and to bloody Peleliu, where McEnery assumed command of the company and helped speed the final defeat of the Japanese garrison. From his evocative recollections of hand-to-hand fighting and the loss of buddies in hellish fighting to his frank portraits of legends like Colonel Lewis "Chesty" Puller and General Douglas MacArthur, McEnery's gritty narrative is as valuable for its insights on a war increasingly lost to memory as it is terrifying and engrossing-a master work that no one interested in military history can afford to pass up.
Author
Jim McEnery
Jim McEnery served in the 1st Marine Division’s famed K-3-5 rifle company in World War II and fought in three major campaigns against the Japanese. After the war, he moved to New Jersey and worked at Rutgers University until retirement. He passed away in September 2012.
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Reviews for Hell in the Pacific
Rating: 4.764150896226416 out of 5 stars
5/5
53 ratings8 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An excellently told story by a Marine grunt who experienced some of the worst the war in the Pacific had to offer
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Perfect narrator very moving and accurate combat memoir of pacific campaigns 1 marine divisions K-3-5 prior to E. Sledge. This is from a Sargents perspective. The story covers day one of the Canal, liberty in Australia,Cape Glouster, pavuvu, peleliu, Negesibus & more
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book is an honest and no frills account of combat told by a man who was there. I felt like I was getting the straight dope and the author didn’t mince words. It is extremely well-written, and balances the details with “the big picture” nicely. It pulls no punches and yet was so engaging that it seemed like it was over too quickly. The closing passage of the book ties it all together and will leave you feeling humble and grateful. Semper Fi, indeed.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The greatest generation to lead the way for future Marines!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Well done I really enjoyed this Audio book Filled with details I had no idea about "Dug out" Doug MacArthur what a disgrace to these fine Marines.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good book written by someone that was there. Good historical and first hand information. Recommend completely
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/55479. Hell in the Pacific A Marine Rifleman's Journey From Guadalcanal to Peleliu, by Jim McEnery with Bill Sloan (read 22 Jun 2017) This book was published in 2012, the author having been born in Brooklyn on 30 Sept 1919. He enlisted itn e mrines when he was 20. He tells of his growing up years and his training as aMarine, which I dfound helpful . His book was I think inspired by Sledge's With the Old Breed (which is the best book on World War II experience I have ever read--I read it 9 Mar 2001). The account of the time the author spent on Guadalcanal, New Britain, and Peleliu is well told ad at times is overwheloming, though the author seems to have taken it in stride and contrary to so many of his fellows never was wounded, though he was overtaken by malaria. The summing up pages are well-done (though I was a bit nettled that he did not see why the Hitler first strategy was wise, since Hitler was a far more innovative and dangerous foe and needed to be beaten before he acquired more dangerous weapons. But one can understand the author's feelings, having gone through what he did.)
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A magnificent telling of life as a U.S. Marine fighting on Guadalcanal and Peleliu. McEnery holds little back as he praises those men and officers who met the challenges and criticizes those who in his view failed. General MacArthur is definitely not one of his favourites because of his treatment of Marines in the Philippines in 1942 and then his lack of front line leadership during the island hopping phase of the War. The final snub being the lack of any Marine generals on the USS Missouri at the surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay.The poor planning of the invasion of Guadalcanal and the inadequate equipment & supplies the Marines took with them ashore made their achievements even more impressive. The battle for Peleliu was very costly and McEnery remembers many details of the terror he & his fellow Marines suffered in the month long fight for an island most historians and many military officers at the time felt was unnecessary.