"Lost in action," a term used to account for soldiers last seen in combat but not identified as killed or captured, was applied to the author for years following his capture by Japanese in the Philippines after the fall of Bataan. The three and a half years after capture were a time of torture and slave labor. At war's end the author weighed 95 pounds, down from his normal 160. A year was spent in military hospitals before he was fit to return to normal activities.

Elite sniper Jody Mitic loved being a soldier. His raw, candid, and engrossing memoir follows his personal journey into the Canadian military, through sniper training, and firefights in Afghanistan, culminating on the fateful night when he stepped on a landmine and lost both of his legs below the knees.Afghanistan, 2007. I was a Master Corporal, part of an elite sniper team sent on a mission to flush out Taliban in an Afghan village. I had just turned thirty, a...

With the authenticity of Jarhead and Bravo Two Zero and the straight-up narrative of Contact Charlie, this military memoir describes what really goes on in the training of an elite soldier and his tours in Afghanistan.In 2004, Jake Olafsen signed up for the Royal Marines Commandos. He left everything behind at home in Canada on the basis of a spur-of-the-moment decision. The Royal Marines have the toughest and longest basic trainin...

From Robert Leckie, the World War II veteran and New York Times bestselling author of Helmet for My Pillow, whose experiences were featured in the HBO miniseries The Pacific, comes this vivid narrative of the astonishing six-month campaign for Guadalcanal.From the Japanese soldiers’ carefully calculated—and ultimately foiled—attempt to build a series of impregnable island forts on the ground to the tireless efforts of the Americans who struggled against a...

Soon after we landed it became apparent that there was more than enough artillery here, that the enemy were excellent shots, and that their ammo supply seemed to be endless.With the Japanese deeply entrenched and determined to die rather than surrender, Robert Dick and his fellow soldiers quickly realized that theirs would be a war fought inch by bloody inch–and that their Sherman tanks would serve front and center. As driver, Dick had to maneuver his five-man crew in and out of da...

"Morning was always a welcome sight to us. It meant two things. The first was that we were still alive. . . ."In 1967, death was the constant companion of the Marines of Hotel Company, 2/5, as they patrolled the paddy dikes, mud, and mountains of the Arizona Territory southwest of Da Nang. But John Culbertson and most of the rest of Hotel Company were the same lean, fighting Marines who had survived the carnage of Operation Tuscaloosa. Hotel's grunts walked over the enemy, not arou...

"The authors of the bestselling Halsey's Typhoon do a fine job recounting one brutal, small-unit action during the Korean War's darkest moment." — Publishers WeeklyNovember 1950, the Korean Peninsula. After General MacArthur ignores Mao's warnings and pushes his UN forces deeper into North Korea, his 10,000 First Division Marines find themselves surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered by 100,000 Chinese soldiers near the Chosin Reservoir. Their only...

TO HELL AND BACKFor the U.S., Guadalcanal was a bloody seven-month struggle under brutal conditions against crack Japanese troops deeply entrenched and determined to fight to the death. For Charles Walker, this horrific jungle battle–one that claimed the lives of 1,600 Americans and more than 23,000 Japanese–was just the beginning. On the eve of battle, 2nd Lt. Walker was ordered back to the States for medical reasons. But there was a war to be won, and he had no intention of missi...

An absolutely harrowing first-person account of the 94th Infantry Division’s bold campaign to break through Hitler’s “impregnable” Siegfried line at the end of World War IIEighteen-year-old William Foley was afraid the war would be over before he got there, but the rifleman was sent straight to the front lines, arriving January 25, 1945–just in time to join the 94th Infantry Division poised at Hitler’s legendary West Wall. By the time Foley finally managed to grab ...

A bold new contingent—Force Recon—joins the explosive Starfist space epic of marines at war.A Confederation army is besieged on the planet Ravenette, cut off by and facing destruction at the hands of a dozen Secessionist Coalition worlds arrayed against it. The outnumbered and outgunned forces cling precariously to their foothold, dubbed “Bataan” by the desperate men in their fighting bunkers. Reinforcements are on the way, but will they arrive in time? And even if...

An inspiring and heart-warming short story of canine devotion and bravery.Smoky, a baseball-size mass of brown fur, was found in a foxhole in the depths of the New Guinea jungle in the middle of the Second World War. The soldier who found her took the Yorkshire Terrier pup back to base and sold her to Bill, the US serviceman who would adopt her, for three Australian dollars.It was the start of a partnership that saw Smoky save US war plans and ground crew from bombings and ...

World War with China explodes in Hunter Killer, David Poyer's dramatic new thriller. The United States stands nearly alone in its determination to fight, rather than give into the expansionist demands of the aggressive new “People’s Empire.” The naval and air forces of the Associated Powers – China, Pakistan, Iran, and North Korea – have used advanced technology and tactical nuclear weapons to devastate America's fleet in the Pacific, while its massive army forced humiliating surr...