Overview

A Band of Brothers for the Pacific, this is the gut-wrenching but ultimately triumphant story of the Marines' most ferocious-yet largely forgotten-battle of World War II. Between September 15 and October 15, 1944, the First Marine Division suffered more than 6,500 casualties fighting on a hellish little island in the Pacific. Peleliu was the scene for one of the most savage struggles of modern times, a true killing ground that has all but been forgotten-until now. Drawing on extensive interviews with Peleliu veterans, Bill Sloan follows the men of K/3/5 and a handful of others throughout the campaign and rescues the Corp's bloodiest battle from obscurity. Misled by poor intelligence, the 9,000 Marine infantry-men who landed on Peleliu's beaches found themselves facing 11,000 Japanese who had turned the island into an intricate network of caves and underground fortifications unrivaled in the history of warfare. Sloan's gripping narrative seamlessly weaves together the experiences of the men who were there, producing a vivid and unflinching look at the nightmare that was Peleliu-a ferocious melee of non-stop infantry attacks, hand-to-hand combat, flame-thrower assaults, and night skirmishes, many in temperatures that topped 115 degrees. With casualties in some infantry units averaging more than sixty percent, Peleliu is the bloodiest battle in the Corps' history. Surprisingly, Peleliu received little public notice back in the States even as it was being fought and was virtually forgotten after the war. At last rectifying this historical injustice, Brother of Heroes will stand with Ghost Soldiers and Flags of Our Fathers as a modern classic in military history as a riveting read.

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Reviews

"This gripping and personal story of combat is read with verve by Patrick Lawlor. He is delightfully expressive when performing voices and dialogue. He can be a gravelly voiced non-com or a Southern recruit with equal aplomb.-- ""AudioFile"" ""A superbly researched, riveting story of one of the most violent battles in American history. Read it and weep for those magnificent American fighting men."" -- ""Harold G. Moore, coauthor of We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young"" ""A well-rendered account of Marines in combat on what must have been some of the worst acreage on earth. The battle to take Peleliu, a scrubby island 600 miles east of Mindanao, was something of an accident of history...A lively reconstruction that does honor to the men who fought it."" -- ""Kirkus Reviews"" ""This gripping and personal story of combat is read with verve by Patrick Lawlor. He is delightfully expressive when performing voices and dialogue. He can be a gravelly voiced non-com or a Southern recruit with equal aplomb."" -- ""AudioFile"" ""You'll read it with sweaty palms and an aching heart...The battle is a classic, and Sloan's book does it justice."" -- ""Washington Post Book World"""

Author Information

Bill Sloan is an award-winning freelance journalist and the author of more than a dozen books, including The Ultimate Battle and Brotherhood of Heroes. During his ten years as an investigative reporter and feature writer for the Dallas Times Herald, he covered many of the major events and personalities of the second half of the twentieth century and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. He lives in Dallas, Texas. Patrick Lawlor, an actor, director, and combat choreographer, is an Earphones Award-winning narrator.

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