On the Canal: The Marines of L-3-5 on Guadalcanal 1942-1943 (Stackpole Military History Series)

About this book

A straightforward gripping tale from the Marines that stormed ashore on Guadalcanal in World War II. Told with humor and honesty in a no-holds-barred approach that only a Marine who was there could tell. Excerpt on firing a rifle grenade: "I jammed the rifle stock tight against my shoulder raised myself up off the ground to a kneeling position and squeezed the trigger. The rifle went bang! And the recoil jarred it loose from my grip. The rifle smacked me hard in the jaw. With that I went down on my face while the little bluebirds started going tweet tweet tweet around my head. Did I hit it? I asked. Yeah you hit it Flash said. The damn thing just didnt work. We finally ran into somebody from another unit a guy who really understood how the new style grenade was supposed to work. We explained our misfortune to him and he asked us did you pull the firing pin out . . . The god damn pin!"