Gyrene : The World War II United States Marine

Marine! Leatherneck! Guadalcanal! Iwo Jima! The United States Marine Corps and victory in the Pacific in World War II are the same to Americans. Yet those and other victories did not come easy to the Gyrenes. Focusing on the individual Marine combat infantryman, Wilbur Jones here makes public the behind the scenes story of those brave men. Remembering the classic Corps rule that every Marine is first an infantryman and only next a tanker or aviator, Jones brings to life the inner culture of the World War II Leatherneck. Comprehensive, including the ordinary and the exceptional, the pleasant and the unpleasant, the serious and the light hearted, Gyrene is truly an account that will be read, kept, and referred to for years. Jones here brings the reader into the transformation of the new recruit, or “boot” into an awesome but still human fighting machine.

Each reflects an unremitting devotion to the Corps, each other, the unit, and the country, the constant being what made the Marine different and special–willing against the odds, to risk his life to secure an objective or save a comrade. Jones paints a realistic picture of the Marines-motivation, morale, discipline and positive traits as well as their flaws and shortcomings.

Through 250 interviews, nearly 100 personal paper collections, 200 additional veterans’ contributions, and official histories, the author uses rare primary source material and authoritive secondary accounts to examine the marine’s background and characteristics and paint a picture of who and what the Marine was and why and how he performed his duties.