title: War Stories II: Heroism in the Pacific
author:  Oliver L. North 
description: "Another Marine reporting for duty, sir. Ive spent my time in Hell."A World War II Marine to St. Peter at the Pearly Gates When it comes to sheer savagery endured by the American fighting man, few combat theaters could match the Pacific in World War II: the sodden malarial and Japanese-infested jungles of Guadalcanal and Tarawa, the kamikaze pilots for whom death was no deterrent, and the blood-soaked beaches taken by island-hopping Marines. Here, in their own words, as told to decorated combat veteran Lt. Colonel Oliver North, are the compelling, personal stories of American veteranssoldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marinesabout what it was really like to fight in the Pacific.<P>In War Stories II: Heroism in the Pacific, youll experience the fierce combat at Bougainville, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa; youll fly into flak with the fabled Flying Tigers and the Black Sheep Squadron of Pappy Boyington; and youll come face-to-face with the enemy, as North interviews the Japanese veterans who fought so tenaciously against us. In War Stories II: Heroism in the Pacific, North reveals: <BR> The secret plan behind Japans belief that it could defeat the United States <BR> Eyewitness testimony from Pearl Harbor veterans that Japanese Zeros did not fire the first shots: Our defending forces didwith startling results <BR> The living hell of the Bataan Death March and the daring rescue of the Ghosts of Bataan <BR> The "impossible" mission of the daring Doolittle Raid <BR> MacArthurs dramatic and emotional return to the Philippines <BR> The Big Battles: the Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal, the Marianas, Leyte <BR> The forgotten China-Burma-India Theater <BR> How Americans cracked the secret Japanese JN-25 code and changed the course of the war War Stories II: Heroism in the Pacific is the essential book for every veteran of the war, every student of military history, and every American who is inspired by the courage and sacrifice of the Greatest Generation in one of its greatest moments.
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  > To the memory of Edwin D. “Eddie” Morgan
  
  > Marine Corps hero of the Pacific War,
  
  > fine friend, and raconteur of this expansive tale.
  
  > And
  
  > To Carolina Montgomery Groom—age eighteen.
  
  > When you were seven you would come into my office and ask what I was doing—I
  > was writing your book, Patriotic Fire, a tale of pirates, soldiers, Indians,
  > heroes, and scoundrels at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815.
  
  > When you were twelve I wrote another story for you, Kearny’s March, about
  > the Mexican War of 1848—about explorers, mountain men, Indians,
  > presidents—and always the heroes and the scoundrels.
  
  > It’s ever the same—in history, novels, life, and in this book for you—those
  > heroes and those scoundrels provide the grace and disrepute that makes our
  > species, above all animals, at once interesting, and unique.
  
  —Your loving papa
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  PREFACE
  
  Novels don’t usually need forewords but in this case it seems useful that the
  reader know the background