Bloody Ridge and Beyond: A World War II Marine's Memoir of Edson's Raiders in th

Description: Bloody Ridge and Beyond by Marlin Groft, Larry Alexander Now in paperback, a story of struggle at Guadalcanal, from the New York Times bestselling co-author of A Higher Call.On the island of Guadalcanal, a 2,000-yard-long ridge rose from the jungle canopy. Behind it lay the air base of Henderson Field. And if Henderson Field fell, it would mean the almost certain death or capture of all 12,500 Marines on the island . . .Positioned on the ridge were the hard-fighting men of Edsons Raiders of the 1st Marine Raider Battalion. They were the United States Marine Corps best of the best, and they knew defeat and retreat were simply not options.For two hellish nights in September 1942, about 840 Marines-commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Merritt Austin "Red Mike" Edson-fought one of the most pivotal battles of World War II in the Pacific, clinging desperately to their position on what would soon be known as Bloody Ridge.Bloody Ridge and Beyond is the story of how these men showed courage and valor in the face of overwhelming numbers, as told by Marlin Groft, a man who was a member of this incredible fighting force.Includes photographs FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Author Biography Marlin F. Groft was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1939 to 1941, and then became a silk-screen printer in a textile factory. He joined the U.S. Marines after Pearl Harbor and, following boot camp, he volunteered for the 1st Marine Raider Battalion under Lt. Col. Merritt A. Edson, and served with that unit until its dissolution. Assigned to the 29th Marine Regiment of the newly formed 6th Marine Division, he served beyond the end of the war, seeing duty in China until the end of 1945. Groft and his wife, Vivian, live in a Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, retirement community.Larry Alexander is the author of the New York Times bestselling biography Biggest Brother- The Life of Major Dick Winters, the Man Who Led the Band of Brothers and the coauthor (with Adam Makos) of A Higher Call- An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II, another New York Times bestseller. He is also the author of Shadows in the Jungle- The Alamo Scouts Behind Japanese Lines in World War II and In the Footsteps of the Band of Brothers- A Return to Easy Companys Battlefields with Sgt. Forrest Guth. Alexander has been a journalist and columnist for Lancaster newspapers in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for nearly twenty years and has won numerous state-level awards for excellence in journalism. Review "Vivid and powerful."—Adam Makos, New York Times bestselling author of A Higher Call"A story of courage in the face of fear, intense fighting despite overwhelming odds, and brotherhood in the midst of horrific warfare."—Marcus Brotherton, author of Voices of the Pacific"Epic yet excruciatingly personal, riveting, and authentic in every detail."—Steven Pressfield, bestselling author of The Profession Promotional Bloody Ridge and Beyondis the story of how these men showed courage and valor in the face of overwhelming numbers, as told by Marlin Groft, a man who was a member of this incredible fighting force. Review Quote "Vivid and powerful."-Adam Makos, New York Times bestselling author of A Higher Call "A story of courage in the face of fear, intense fighting despite overwhelming odds, and brotherhood in the midst of horrific warfare."-Marcus Brotherton, author of Voices of the Pacific "Epic yet excruciatingly personal, riveting, and authentic in every detail."-Steven Pressfield, bestselling author of The Profession Promotional "Headline" Bloody Ridge and Beyond is the story of how these men showed courage and valor in the face of overwhelming numbers, as told by Marlin Groft, a man who was a member of this incredible fighting force. Excerpt from Book PREFACE QUANTICO, VIRGINIA AUGUST 6, 1989 On the warm, sunny Sunday morning of August 6, 1989, I and a number of my colleagues of the 1st Raider Battalion, the famed Edsons Raiders, stood on the grounds of the Marine base at Quantico, Virginia, not to train for war as we had done forty-seven years prior, but to remember our departed brethren and our Raider legacy. We had returned to where it all began for the Raiders in order to dedicate a memorial as part of the Quantico National Cemetery. I am more than a little proud of the fact that the idea for the memorial had been first floated by me six years earlier during the funeral of Ben Howland, who had been something of a legend in the Raiders. A tenured professor of landscape architecture at the University of Virginia after the war, Ben had become both a teacher and mentor to my son Eric, who was studying at the universitys School of Architecture. At the reception following Bens death, several Raiders commented that Ben had not been buried at Arlington, but rather was interred at the Quantico cemetery, which, we noted, incorporated some of the very ground we had trained on in 1942. Would it not be appropriate, I mused, if a memorial to the Raiders would be erected on the site? Coincidentally that summer, Eric had an internship as a student landscape architect with the Veterans Administrations National Cemetery Service. The Quantico National Cemetery had just recently been opened and was being viewed as a "replacement" cemetery for Arlington. In his capacity as a landscape architect, Eric embraced the idea of the memorial, which we envisioned as being placed alongside a memorial path through the woods. The idea took wing and over the following year, a memorial committee was formed. Eric donated his time to work on concepts and ideas that were presented at the annual Raider Reunion in February 1984. Since our reunions were held at Quantico, we walked the memorial trail. Getting the needed approvals proved somewhat frustrating, with government bureaucracy being notoriously slow. Plus we had to raise funds, although after all this time, I no longer recall how much we needed. Finally, it all came together. Erics plan called for the creation of a small parklike setting shaded by towering oak trees and partially enclosed by a low stone wall. A path weaves through a series of low granite boulders emerging from the ground, each representing one of the islands where we Raiders fought and bled, principally Guadalcanal, Tulagi, Makin, New Georgia, and Bougainville. The design included a bench that overlooked the cemetery and our former training grounds. The ground-cover vegetation assumes the role of the Pacific Ocean, lapping around the granite "islands." A large boulder near the bench holds a bronze tablet that briefly outlines the Raiders history and our stand on Bloody Ridge. A number of invited guests attended the dedication, including the sons of our late commander, Austin and Robert Edson. Dedicatory remarks were made by General Alfred M. Gray, the Marine Corps Commandant, and the memorial marker itself was unveiled by the widows of Lew Walt and Ben Howland. As Taps was blown to conclude the ceremony, I paused to reflect on the pride each of us Raiders felt that day; pride in our commander, in our unit, and in ourselves. -- The Raiders were formed on February 16, 1942, and existed until February 1, 1944, fifteen days shy of two years. More than eight thousand men served in what eventually became four Raider battalions. Of that number, 892 never returned home. Yet over that short period of time, we carved a legend for ourselves on far-flung battlefields like Hill 281 on Tulagi, Tasimboko, the God-awful Bloody Ridge, and along the Matanikau River on Guadalcanal, and in the jungles around Enogai and Bairoko on New Georgia. I was a member of the 1st Raider Battalion, serving under Colonel Merritt A. Edson. By being a member of that magnificent organization, I was among the very first Americans to take the war to our enemies as we landed on Tulagi, an hour before the Guadalcanal fight began. As part of Edsons reconnaissance patrol, I scouted the barren hilltop that would become known as Bloody Ridge, and stood with him atop that blood-soaked ridge as thousands of Japanese tried to sweep us aside in two desperate nights of hand-to-hand fighting. I was with the Raiders in the fierce fighting amid the stinking jungles on New Georgia, and remained a member of the unit until its disbanding. Counting myself among those who served in this valiant battalion of the finest men in the United States Marine Corps is perhaps the proudest achievement of my life. These are my remembrances, which I hope will serve as a legacy to the brave Marines who fought beside me and shared my hardships, preserved for my grandsons and for future generations of my fellow Raiders. Semper Fi, Marlin "Whitey" Groft Lancaster, Pennsylvania May 2014 INTRODUCTION In my twenty-plus years of being a journalist, I have had the distinct honor of interviewing combat veterans from every American war of the twentieth century, from World War I through Iraq. In each instance, I have found their valor, courage, and willingness to put themselves in harms way for their nation to be inspiring. In a few cases, most particularly Major Richard D. Winters and Sergeant Forrest Guth, both with the famed "Band of Brothers," they became friends. The same can be said for Marlin F. "Whitey" Groft. I met Marlin in 2009 when I was looking for a veteran on whom to write a newspaper story to run on Veterans Day. I knew Whitey had been a Marine during the war, and that he had served on Guadalcanal. I did not know until I began the interview that he had been a member of one of the Marine Corpss most famous World War II fighting organizations, Edsons Raiders. As a historian who specializes in the Second World War, I certainly knew who Merritt Austin Edson and what were sometimes referred to as his "do-or-die men" were and what they had done. I had studied the Battle of Guadalcanal intensely and also read many of the fine accounts written about the Raiders, including Edsons Raiders by the eminent military historian Joseph H. Alexander, who is, so far as I know, no relation. So as Whitey spoke about Bloody Ridge during our interview, I could follow the action in my head. Of all the Pacific battles, to me the Guadalcanal campaign is the quintessential struggle. Not just because lessons the American commanders learned during this first land offensive were put to use in later invasions, but because it was the only land battle after America went over to the offensive that America came seriously close to losing. It was hastily planned, poorly executed, abysmally supplied and supported, and at one point, the Marine ground commander, Major General Alexander Vandegrift, was authorized by his superiors to surrender his forces if necessary. And of all the many individual battles on Guadalcanal, the Raiders valiant two-day stand against an overwhelming number of Japanese soldiers on what is called both Edsons Ridge and Bloody Ridge was the most important fight of the entire campaign. Had the Japanese taken the ridge, theyd have plunged straight through the Marine defensive perimeter, taken Henderson airfield, split the American forces in half, and, quite likely, forced the surviving Marines into the jungle to fight as a disorganized guerilla force, or to simply starve to death, because there would be no American Dunkirk from a U.S. Navy still reeling after Pearl Harbor. Edsons recognizing the strategic value of the ridge and knowing the consequences of its loss, plus his dogged defense against odds of three or even four to one, and the ability and courage of his men to stand and smash wave after wave of enemy attackers, combined to make Bloody Ridge one of the most crucial battles in American military history. Yet, ironically, the Marines Corps high command never wanted the Raiders. Indeed, the Raiders were the bastard child foisted off on the Marines by Colonel James Roosevelt through his father, the President of the United States. Young Roosevelt was a devotee of Lieutenant Colonel Evans Carlson, who studied the tactics of the Red Chinese forces fighting the Japanese in China. An eccentric man who had a habit of rubbing people the wrong way, a trait that lost him popularity with his superiors, Carlson devised a raider concept to strike at the enemy behind his lines, where he least expected it. Edson, too, was working on a similar concept, and the two men would become bitter rivals. What President Franklin D. Roosevelt liked most about the raider idea, and why he ordered it initiated, was that Americas military had suffered a string of humiliating defeats starting with Pearl Harbor, and the morale of the troops, not to mention the folks on the home front, needed some type of victory. The smashing American victory at the Battle of Midway had been a start, but more--much more--was needed. The idea behind the Raiders was to launch sizeable attacks behind enemy lines, taking the war to the enemy and letting him know that America was down but not out. This, Roosevelt believed, was imperative. The Marine high command, however, did not feel the need for some type of elite fighting force, considering as they did that all Marines were elite. To them, the Raiders were redundant and resulted in nothing more than a serious drain from the regular ranks of some of the Corpss best fighting men. Whitey Groft was there. He lived what I had simply read about. He was personally interviewed by Edson for the Raiders (and was initially turned down), and he had several personal stories about his own interactions with the Details ISBN0425273016 Author Larry Alexander Short Title BLOODY RIDGE & BEYOND Language English ISBN-10 0425273016 ISBN-13 9780425273012 Media Book Format Paperback Imprint Berkley Publishing Corporation,U.S. Subtitle A World War II Marines Memoir of Edsons Raiders in the Pacific Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States Year 2015 Publication Date 2015-10-06 US Release Date 2015-10-06 UK Release Date 2015-10-06 Narrator Susan McInearny Birth 1974 Affiliation Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Bipolar Clinic and Reseach Program, Massachusetts General Hospital Position Associate Professor of Psychiatry Qualifications M.D. Pages 384 Publisher Penguin Putnam Inc DEWEY 940.54265933 Audience General NZ Release Date 2016-03-31 AU Release Date 2016-03-31 We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. 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