Read Anywhere and on Any Device!

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!

Create Free Account

Quick and Easy Sign Up!

It takes less then 1 minute to sign up, then you can enjoy Unlimited eBooks.

Sign Up Browse

Popular Genres

Read Anywhere and on Any Device!

  • Download on iOS
  • Download on Android
  • Download on iOS

We Were Going to Win, or Die There: With the Marines at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Saipan

We Were Going to Win, or Die There: With the Marines at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Saipan

Roy H. Elrod
0/5 ( ratings)
Read Download
Winner, Colonel Joseph Alexander Award, Marine Corps Heritage Foundation

In 1940, native West Texan Roy H. Elrod joined the Marine Corps. This placed him on course to experience some of World War II’s most savage combat. Entering the Marine Corps as an enlisted man, Elrod rose rapidly. By the time his unit, the 8th Marine Regiment, went into the fight at Guadalcanal, he was commanding a platoon of 37 mm gunners. They endured Japanese attacks, malarial tropical weather, and starvation rations. His combat leadership earned him a Silver Star and a battlefield promotion.

The next fight at Tarawa was much shorter, only four days, but it seemed an eternity. On D-Day his platoon waded their 37 mm cannons ashore, each weighing nearly 1,000 pounds, through half a mile of bullet-laced surf to get to an island where the killing never stopped. His was the only platoon to get its guns ashore and into action that first day. Saipan was not as intense, but just as deadly. Here Elrod commanded a platoon of 75 mm halftracks. Again, he kept his platoon in front-line combat, blasting enemy caves and pillboxes. It was a dangerous place to be—Elrod was riddled with shrapnel from an enemy artillery shell that ended the war for him.
    
These are Elrod’s Pacific war experiences: vivid, engaging, humorous, insightful, and authentic. The book is based on more than fifty hours of interviews conducted by Marine Corps historian Fred H. Allison, who also drew upon Elrod’s wartime letters home and provided annotations to the narrative. It is a view of the war from the perspective of a young Marine infantry officer, a job that had an extremely low survival potential. The Marines intended to win—if they did not, they would die there.

 
Language
English
Pages
289
Format
Hardcover
Publisher
University of North Texas Press
Release
October 03, 2017
ISBN
1574416898
ISBN 13
9781574416893

We Were Going to Win, or Die There: With the Marines at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Saipan

Roy H. Elrod
0/5 ( ratings)
Read Download
Winner, Colonel Joseph Alexander Award, Marine Corps Heritage Foundation

In 1940, native West Texan Roy H. Elrod joined the Marine Corps. This placed him on course to experience some of World War II’s most savage combat. Entering the Marine Corps as an enlisted man, Elrod rose rapidly. By the time his unit, the 8th Marine Regiment, went into the fight at Guadalcanal, he was commanding a platoon of 37 mm gunners. They endured Japanese attacks, malarial tropical weather, and starvation rations. His combat leadership earned him a Silver Star and a battlefield promotion.

The next fight at Tarawa was much shorter, only four days, but it seemed an eternity. On D-Day his platoon waded their 37 mm cannons ashore, each weighing nearly 1,000 pounds, through half a mile of bullet-laced surf to get to an island where the killing never stopped. His was the only platoon to get its guns ashore and into action that first day. Saipan was not as intense, but just as deadly. Here Elrod commanded a platoon of 75 mm halftracks. Again, he kept his platoon in front-line combat, blasting enemy caves and pillboxes. It was a dangerous place to be—Elrod was riddled with shrapnel from an enemy artillery shell that ended the war for him.
    
These are Elrod’s Pacific war experiences: vivid, engaging, humorous, insightful, and authentic. The book is based on more than fifty hours of interviews conducted by Marine Corps historian Fred H. Allison, who also drew upon Elrod’s wartime letters home and provided annotations to the narrative. It is a view of the war from the perspective of a young Marine infantry officer, a job that had an extremely low survival potential. The Marines intended to win—if they did not, they would die there.

 
Language
English
Pages
289
Format
Hardcover
Publisher
University of North Texas Press
Release
October 03, 2017
ISBN
1574416898
ISBN 13
9781574416893

More books from Roy H. Elrod

We Were Going to Win, Or Die There: With the Marines at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Saipan (North Texas Military Biography and Memoir Series)

0/5 ( ratings)

We Were Going to Win, Or Die There: With the Marines at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Saipan (North Texas Military Biography and Memoir Series Book 10)

0/5 ( ratings)

We Were Going to Win, Or Die There: With the Marines at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Saipan (North Texas Military Biography and Memoir Series Book 10)

0/5 ( ratings)

We Were Going to Win, Or Die There: With the Marines at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Saipan (North Texas Military Biography and Memoir Series Book 10)

0/5 ( ratings)

We Were Going to Win, Or Die There: With the Marines at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Saipan (North Texas Military Biography and Memoir Series Book 10)

0/5 ( ratings)

We Were Going to Win, Or Die There: With the Marines at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Saipan (North Texas Military Biography and Memoir Series)

0/5 ( ratings)

We Were Going to Win, Or Die There: With the Marines at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Saipan (North Texas Military Biography and Memoir Series Book 10)

0/5 ( ratings)

We Were Going to Win, Or Die There: With the Marines at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Saipan (North Texas Military Biography and Memoir Series Book 10)

0/5 ( ratings)

We Were Going to Win, Or Die There: With the Marines at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Saipan (North Texas Military Biography and Memoir Series Book 10)

0/5 ( ratings)

We Were Going to Win, Or Die There: With the Marines at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Saipan (North Texas Military Biography and Memoir Series Book 10)

0/5 ( ratings)

We Were Going to Win, Or Die There: With the Marines at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Saipan (North Texas Military Biography and Memoir Series Book 10)

0/5 ( ratings)

We Were Going to Win, Or Die There: With the Marines at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Saipan (North Texas Military Biography and Memoir Series Book 10)

0/5 ( ratings)

Rate this book!

Write a review?

loader