Kurzbeschreibung
This is a vivid and sensitive account of combat in the Korean War as seen through the eyes of a ninteen year old Marine Sergeant. This is no macho book, with nine months of combar and two Purple Hearts the author has no need to prove his credentials or his manhood. Rather, he quietly and movingly shares his experience of war, of the loss and the courage, of the comradship and the pain, and the grim reality that in moderern warfare survival may be little more than the matter of luck. And we see what it is like when the luck runs out and the hot shell fragment finds its way into the flesh of a young Marine, burying itself between the vertabrae and the skull. This is one of the few detailed first-person accounts of what it is like to be seriously wounded, of the pain and confusion, of the journey back to the forward aid station, being flown out in an early version of the helicopter, of the MASH unit, and the clean whiteness of the hospital ship.
Unlike most historical writing, the author does not confine himself to exposition, or even narrative, but uses the divices of the novel and the screen play to "show you" with verbal pictures that are not confined to a narrators point of view. This is a very literary book.
Unlike most historical writing, the author does not confine himself to exposition, or even narrative, but uses the divices of the novel and the screen play to "show you" with verbal pictures that are not confined to a narrators point of view. This is a very literary book.
