Real Blood! Real Guts! U.S. Marine Raiders and Their Corpsmen in WWII

Filthy, unshaven, wearing tattered camouflaged uniforms with muddy boots, these men were totally indistinguishable among the previously Top Secret Marine Raiders as they returned from combat. They were not with the Raiders to kill the enemy, although they were sometimes forced to do so. Who were they? What did they do? They were the Navy Combat Corpsmen, Doctors and Chaplains of the Fleet Marine force that trained with, lived with and fought alongside, the famed "Suicide Squads" of World War II, the U.S. Marine Raiders. Assigned to each platoon, the Corpsman was called upon to give first aid to Marines wounded on the battlefield, often sacrificing his own life to do so. As Raiders they earned an everlasting place in the glorious history of the Marine Corps, in recognition of their battles against the Japanese enemy in World War II. The supposedly invincible warriors of the Japanese Empire suffered their first defeat in World War II at the hands of this small band of hush, hush Marines at Tulagi, British Solomon Islands in 1942. Raiders fought at Guadalcanal, Midway, Makin, Bougainville, and New Georgia as the 1st Marine Raider Regiment, and as the 4th Marines at Guam and Okinawa the last battle of WW II, every major island battle in the Pacific during the war. Chosen to spearhead the invasion of the Japanese mainland, they instead became the first occupying troops to land on the Japanese homeland in over 400 years. This small band of intrepid Marine and Navy fighters numbered only 7,094 men. Yet they were awarded 7 Medals of Honor, 137 Navy Crosses, 21 Army Distinguished Service Crosses, 350 Silver Star Medals, 18 Legions of Merit and had 30 Ships named for them. THIS IS THEIR STORY!