Marine!
The Life of Chesty Puller
Published on 29. March 2016
369 pages
978-1-5040-3439-5 (ISBN)
Description
The gripping story of an extraordinary American hero, the most decorated man in US Marine Corps history, from a
New York Times-bestselling author.
"We are flanked on both sides by an enemy that outnumbers us 29:1. They can't get away from us now!" -Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, USMC
In the glorious chronicles of the US Marine Corps, no name is more revered than that of Lt. Gen. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller. The only fighting man to receive the Navy Cross five separate times-a military honor second only to the Congressional Medal of Honor-he was the epitome of a professional warrior. A son of the South, descendant of Robert E. Lee, and cousin to George S. Patton, Puller began his enlisted career during World War I and moved up through the ranks as he proved his battlefield mettle in Haiti and Nicaragua, with the Horse Marines in Peking, in the Pacific Theater of World War II, and in the nightmarish winter engagements of the Korean War.
Fearless and seemingly indestructible, adored by the troops he championed yet forced into early retirement by a high command that resented his "lowly" beginnings and unwillingness to play politics, Puller remains one of most towering figures in American military history. Bestselling military biographer Burke Davis paints the definitive portrait of this extraordinary marine hero.
"We are flanked on both sides by an enemy that outnumbers us 29:1. They can't get away from us now!" -Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, USMC
In the glorious chronicles of the US Marine Corps, no name is more revered than that of Lt. Gen. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller. The only fighting man to receive the Navy Cross five separate times-a military honor second only to the Congressional Medal of Honor-he was the epitome of a professional warrior. A son of the South, descendant of Robert E. Lee, and cousin to George S. Patton, Puller began his enlisted career during World War I and moved up through the ranks as he proved his battlefield mettle in Haiti and Nicaragua, with the Horse Marines in Peking, in the Pacific Theater of World War II, and in the nightmarish winter engagements of the Korean War.
Fearless and seemingly indestructible, adored by the troops he championed yet forced into early retirement by a high command that resented his "lowly" beginnings and unwillingness to play politics, Puller remains one of most towering figures in American military history. Bestselling military biographer Burke Davis paints the definitive portrait of this extraordinary marine hero.
More details
Person
Burke Davis (1913-2006) was an American author and journalist best known for his narrative histories of the Civil War, including
To Appomattox: Nine April Days, 1865 (1959),
Sherman's March (1980), and
The Last Surrender (1985). His acclaimed biographies of military and political figures include
They Called Him Stonewall (1954),
Gray Fox: Robert E. Lee and the Civil War (1956),
Marine!: The Life of Chesty Puller (1962), and
Old Hickory: A Life of Andrew Jackson (1977). A longtime special projects writer for Colonial Williamsburg, Davis also published many works of historical nonfiction for young readers. His numerous honors include the Mayflower Cup, the North Carolina Award for Literature, and election to the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame and the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame.
Content
- Dedication
- Contents
- Author's Note
- Prologue
- I. First Lessons
- II. The Fledgling
- III. Baptism of Blood
- IV. New Skills
- V. The Jungles Again
- VI. The Student Who Spoke His Mind
- VII. Return of the Tiger
- VIII. A Changed Man
- IX. Dress Rehearsal
- X. A War Within a War
- XI. Winning the War at Home
- XII. Cape Gloucester
- XIII. Written in Blood
- XIV. Years of Peace
- XV. War on a Shoestring
- XVI. MacArthur's Triumph
- XVII. The Hordes of China
- XVIII. End of a Nightmare
- XIX. Are These Americans?
- Epilogue
- Appendix
- Index
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
