Marine Corps Memories

Camp, a retired Marine Corps colonel, offers a highly detailed account of the Marine Corps' biggest battle in Iraq, the Second Battle for Fallujah, which began with the 2004 murder of four Blackwater contractors. The account draws on personal interviews with those involved, including division commanders and infantrymen, and is illustrated with about 150 on-the-scene color photos, plus several maps. Camp is currently vice president for museum operations with the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation.

During the Korean War, 234 heroic marines from Fox Company, First Division, held off a force of 10,000 Chinese soldiers in subzero weather to secure the Toktong Pass. This is their story. 

Also available in large print and on audio.

Nothing could have prepared privileged-boy Jack McLean for the horror of Landing Zone Loon--a three-day battle that took place on a remote hill tucked into the border of North Vietnam and Laos in June 1968, killing twenty-seven men, wound nearly one hundred others, and leave several dozen survivors to defend an ever-shrinking perimeter with little water or ammo. A powerful coming-of-age portrait that defines some of the most tumultuous events in our history, both in Vietnam and back home.

As leader of the unit dubbed The Majestic Twelve, the author led his team on what some might call the most dangerous duty in the Iraq War--convoy escort. Lynch tells how he formed and commanded his all-volunteer unit.

In 1952, overriding American political objectives dictated that the tactics of UN forces in Korea shift from those of maneuver to those of holding on to territory recently gained at great human cost. In western Korea, along “main lines of resistance,” men of the 1st Marine Division patrolled from lonely outposts. Thus began “the outpost war,” a forgotten period of the “forgotten war”—but one during which 7800 Marines lost became casualties.

Beginning with interviews with the last surviving drill instructors of World War II, this oral history offers the voices of veterans from every major war of the last sixty years, concluding with accounts of what it takes to train marines for Iraq today. It contains revelatory details about the vicious training techniques used to prepare marines for the great battles against Japan in the Pacific; the Ribbon Creek training disaster of the 1950s; and legendary stories by the likes of Iwo Jima veteran "Iron" Mike Mervosh and R. Lee Ermey, the infamous drill instructor from Full Metal Jacket.

The United States Marine Corps has not only played a deciding role in many of the moments which have determined our history, but has set a standard for honor, self-sacrifice and courage. Marines leave boot camp knowing that the marine next to them is more important than they are, creating a bond with one another other and with the Corps which changes them, which is unique and which survives the most horrific combat. This collection echoes with the voices from our most renowned fighting force and their stories of combat, bravery and loyalty to one another.

Located in the northern Virginia hills just south of our nation's capital, Marine Corps Base Quantico is known throughout the world as the Crossroads of the United States Marine Corps. Images of America: Quantico takes the reader on a visual tour of Quantico's evolution through World War I, interwar service as an expeditionary base, and the development of the amphibious capabilities made famous by the Marines in World War II. The impact of famous Marines, including Generals John A. Lejeune and Smedley D. Butler, is explored, as is the unique relationship between the base and the Town of Quantico, the only United States city surrounded by a military base.