Onto the black shores of hell
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Onto the black shores of hell
Onto the black shores of hell
On 19 February 1945, thousands of Marines landed on the black shores of a tiny volcanic island in the Pacific. As they struggled to crawl to safety, the Japanese opened fire with everything they had. <br />The fight that was supposed to take three days lasted well over a month, as the Japanese fought from within the island, and had been instructed to kill at least ten Americans before dying. <br />The battle for Iwo Jima was the only battle in which the Marine Corps suffered more casualties than the Japanese. In just over a month of fighting, 27 Medals of Honor were awarded; one-third of the total number awarded during WWII. Close to 6,000 Americans lost their life, and only 216 of the 22,000 Japanese defenders surrendered. <br />In this tome, three United States Marines share their personal experiences from boot camp to the shores of Iwo Jima through a largely day-by-day account, interwoven with historical background information. As each of the three Marines served in a different division, the reader gets a complete view of the battle.