Nightmare on Iwo Jima: A Marine in Combat

By Patrick F. Caruso and David G. Rathgeber

On February 19, 1945, the 4th and 5th Marine Divisions stormed ashore from a naval support force. Among them was green young lieutenant Pat Caruso who became de facto company commander when the five officers ranking him were killed or wounded. He led his rapidly diminishing force steadily forward for the next few days, when a day’s gains were measured in yards. Caruso was eventually wounded himself and was evacuated. Realizing that the heroism of his comrades would be lost by the decimation of his unit, Caruso latched onto any paper he could find and filled every blank space with his memory of the fighting. This edition has a new foreword and index, boasts nine new photographs, and a map of the action. It resumes its place as a classic account of the experience of being in close, direct, and constant contact with a determined enemy at close quarters. Many did not survive; those who did were changed forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of Alabama Press
• Release date: Nov 15, 2007
• ISBN: 9780817380465

Book preview

Chapter 1

The Preparation

The battle on Guam was over and the island was secured, but the Third Marine Division remained for training exercises. After a few months we realized we would soon be called upon for the next campaign. This became evident when our training tempo was stepped up and they began to feed us better. A few days later we were notified that the division was designated to move out, but no one knew where or when we were going. We surmised it would be north of Guam toward Japan, where it was notably colder. Since our training had been geared to open-area fighting, we reasoned that our next assignment would not involve jungle

Reviews for Nightmare on Iwo Jima

[jamespurcell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Brief, but, excellent memoir of a new platoon leader on Iwo Jima who was the comapny compander by the end of the first hour because all his senior officers were casualties as well as one third of the entire company. His recollections, compiled while in the hospital after his being wounded 14 days into the campaign, plus those of other survivors portray a world beyond belief for those whose have not had the experience. Most of the marines were very young but heroes were everywhere and uncommon valor became the standard.