This is the story of a United States Marine Corps 12 man Rifle Squad plus the Squad Leader. It places the reader in landing craft racing toward a hostile beach being pounded by enemy gunfire, viewing the beaches as they are engulfed in a maelstrom of steel and fire. They are joined aboard troop ships, and on land in craters created by naval gunfire. The squad's liberty in Honolulu, Hawaii is hilarious. Each island introduces its own unique horror, Guadalcanal with its malaria infested jungles and being heavily outnumbered by the enemy. Tarawa and marines wading in waist deep water into murderous machine gun fire. Also Saipan with one thousand five hundred Japanese soldiers in a suicidal Banzai Charge and the desperate hand to hand combat that takes place. Tinian's calculated gamble on the landing beaches. Iwo Jima's caves leading to the two flags raised on Mount Suribachi is an introduction into hell. Finally, the Japanese decision to defend Okinawa not on the beaches but in depth with heavily fortified positions taking a very heavy toll in men and equipment. Thirteen men whose friendship is forged in steel and tempered in blood. The spirit of comradeship is not killed in combat, but the individual members of the original squad are. The squad takes it losses and in the process reveals their innermost thoughts. In one of the final chapters, Sgt. Louis Rossi leads a patrol into the atom-bombed city of Nagasaki. In another at Sasebo he meets the lovely Geisha, 'Keiko.' With tears in her eyes she tells him 'My mother, father and two brothers died in the firestorms your bombers caused. Yet I cannot hate you. I wish you only peace and happiness.' Finally the return home to try healing shattered bodies, tortured minds and frayed nerves. However, some could no longer return to the society and family they had left behind. Intolerance and demons of war came into their rooms each night to haunt them. The decision to reenlist was made with difficulty and for different reasons; however, in the final analysis the thoughts were similar. The Marine Corps understands me.

Korea, the forgotten war is brought into focus This is a story of love, passion and war. It wrenches men from the arms of the woman in their lives with no warning. A warm parting embrace a lingering kiss and the haunting wisp of cologne is the passport to unrelenting, unforgiving combat. It wrenches men from the arms of their woman and places them in landing craft -racing toward a hostile enemy beach being pounded by aircraft and ships. Bringing an under strength 1st Marine Division to full strength on its way to -combat was incredibly challenging even for the Marine Corps. Men reported for boarding AP A in civilian clothes. It was necessary to issue uniforms, equipment and rifles minutes before casting off lines holding the ship to the -pier. Crash programs are initiated aboard ships at sea to prepare these men for combat. Fortunately officers and non-commissioned offers were combat experienced and ready for combat. The woman left at home prepares the children for school or are pregnant and visiting the doctor. When asked, "where is daddy" the reply announced by the President of the United States was "Police Action."

Dark Sunrise Vietnam removes readers from the easy chair and places them with two Marine Corps Divisions in Vietnam. The South Vietnamese cannot defeat the Viet Cong or North Vietnamese in combat. Before long the Marine Corps 3rd Division is sent north to the DMZ. The 1st Marine Division South to Da Nang and the Mekong Delta. The Marines have a bond between them forged in steel and tempered in blood. Search and Destroy missions, Combat sweeps and Patrols are conducted. A continuous problem is surrounding the enemy in combat and suddenly intense silence. Combat sweep of the area reveals no enemy dead, where did they go? The enemy is almost always invisible unless willing to be seen. The Ho Chi Minh trail is found with elephants carrying heavy guns or ammunition. Also thousands of old men and women moving supplies on their backs or bicycles. When the tunnels of Chu Chi are discovered, they weave through a trail of deception, Bear traps, Punji traps, snares, trip wires, tiger pits, bombs, lures, shadows and ambush. Help from the Mongtagnard Tribesmen is requested. How does this all end?

In the ruined Europe of World War II, American soldiers on the frontline had no eye for breathtaking vistas or romantic settings. The brutality of battle profoundly darkened the soldiers' perceptions of the Old World. Drawing on soldiers' diaries, letters, poems and songs, Peter Schrijvers offers a compelling account of the experiences of U.S. combat ground forces: their struggles with the European terrain and seasons, their confrontations with soldiers, and their often startling encounters with civilians. Schrijvers relays how the GIs became so desensitized and dehumanized that the sight of dead animals often evoked more compassion in them than enemy dead. The Crash of Ruin concludes with a dramatic and moving account of the final Allied offensive into German-held territory and the soldiers' bearing witness to the ultimate symbol of Europe's descent into ruin: the death camps of the Holocaust.

The powerful and riveting new book in the multimillion-selling Killing series by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard Autumn 1944. World War II is nearly over in Europe but is escalating in the Pacific, where American soldiers face an opponent who will go to any length to avoid defeat. The Japanese army follows the samurai code of Bushido, stipulating that surrender is a form of dishonor. Killing the Rising Sun takes readers to the bloody tropical-island battlefields of Peleliu and Iwo Jima and to the embattled Philippines, where General Douglas MacArthur has made a triumphant return and is plotting a full-scale invasion of Japan. Across the globe in Los Alamos, New Mexico, Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer and his team of scientists are preparing to test the deadliest weapon known to mankind. In Washington, DC, FDR dies in office and Harry Truman ascends to the presidency, only to face the most important political decision in history: whether to use that weapon. And in Tokyo, Emperor Hirohito, who is considered a deity by his subjects, refuses to surrender, despite a massive and mounting death toll. Told in the same page-turning style of Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy, Killing Jesus, Killing Patton, and Killing Reagan, this epic saga details the final moments of World War II like never before.

War Within (the series) is a collection of poems, thoughts, and reflections from the heart, mind, and spirit of Michael Bane. It’s basis is the battle that’s within me, and many others. I hope it helps someone who may read it, as much as it helped me writing it.