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Red Blood, Black Sand

Fighting Alongside John Basilone from Boot Camp to Iwo Jima

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Red Blood, Black Sand

Written by: Chuck Tatum
Narrated by: Norman Dietz
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About this listen

In 1944, the U.S. Marines were building the 5th Marine Division - also known as “The Spearhead” - in preparation for the invasion of the small, Japanese-held island of Iwo Jima. . .

When Chuck Tatum began Marine boot camp, he was just a smart-aleck teenager eager to serve his country. Little did he know that he would be training under a living legend of the Corps - Medal of Honor recipient John Basilone, who had almost single-handedly fought off a Japanese force of three thousand on Guadalcanal.

It was from Basilone and other sergeants that Tatum would learn how to fight like a Marine and act like a man - skills he would need when he hit the black sand of Iwo Jima with thirty thousand other Marines.

Red Blood, Black Sand is the story of Chuck’s two weeks in hell, where he would watch his hero, Basilone, fall, where the enemy stalked the night, where snipers haunted the day, and where Chuck would see his friends whittled away in an eardrum-shattering, earth-shaking, meat grinder of a battle.

This is the island, the heroes, and the tragedy of Iwo Jima, through the eyes of the battle’s greatest living storyteller, Chuck Tatum.

©2012 Chuck Tatum (P)2014 Tantor United States Wars & Conflicts World War II Military War Island Sniper
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What the critics say

"In my judgment no combat veteran's memoir is better . . . and only a handful are equal." Stephen E. Ambrose

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A great story that could have been read better

I liked the story in most chapters but some of the chapters got bogged down with fluff content that provided some good anecdote but overall slowed the story down a bit. I recommend this book for anyone looking to get a personal perspective of combat on Iwo Jima and life in the Marine Corps during WW2. I personally enjoy books on the pacific war as the European theatre is covered so extensively, this is one of the few that covers the topic in a detailed personal account. The narrator does an ok job of reading the book but I think the narration could have used a younger sounding voice to give a more realistic youthful perspective as Chuck is only 18 and many of his fellow Marines are in the same age group.

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