The Few and the Proud: Marine Corps Drill Instructors in Their Own Words

by Larry Smith

Overview

The New York Times bestseller: From the sands of Iwo Jima to the deserts of Iraq, the riveting, real-life stories of training young marines.

Beginning with interviews with the last surviving drill instructors of World War II, this powerful 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. The Few and the Proud 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. With death-defying accounts relayed from the MCRD in San Diego and the legendary Parris Island, The Few and the Proud is both a personal history of the 230-year-old U.S. Marine Corps and a repository of heroism, leadership, and determination in the toughest division of the United States military.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393243239
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	10/07/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Larry Smith is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Few and the Proud and Beyond Glory. The latter was adapted into a major Broadway play by Stephen Lang. Smith lives in South Norwalk, Connecticut.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     xv
Introduction     xvii
The Old Breed: World War II, Korea, and Vietnam     3
Chuck Taliano     5
Recruit Training     16
Iron Mike Mervosh     21
Camp Pendleton     40
Bill Paxton     42
The Known Marine     54
Recruit Training     58
Ed Walls     62
Camp Lejeune     75
Dave Robles     77
Recruit Training     92
Robert Mastrion     97
Eddie Adams     107
Ribbon Creek: Sea Change in the Corps     111
Matthew C. McKeon     114
Morton Janklow     119
James Wheeler     128
Gene Alvarez     134
The Yellow Footprints     143
Marines and the Movies: Image Matters Greatly     149
R. Lee Ermey     155
Mike Malachowsky     165
The Crucible     173
Montford Point: How Blacks Made It into the Marines     179
Gene Doughty     181
Herman Rhett     190
Ellis Cunningham     196
David Dinkins     206
Women Marines: The Fight forEquality     211
Denise Kreuser     213
Doris Kleberger     224
Mary Sue League     229
Jeanne Botwright     235
Christine Henning     242
Counting Cadence     249
Women Counting Cadence     251
The New Breed: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same     253
Rodolfo Rodriguez     255
Clint Kreuser     264
Josh Wylie     273
Rob Bush     282
Will Post     295
Keith Burkepile     305
Men Counting Cadence     321
The Known Marine     323

Editorial Reviews

This series of interviews with Marines, most of whom are current or former drill instructors, offers a multifaceted, personal history of the Marine Corps and its training methods since WWII. Alongside a host of distinguished Marines, several celebrities who spent time in the corps are featured, including R. Lee Ermey, the actor and technical adviser who portrayed the ultimate drill instructor in Stanley Kubrick's Vietnam epic Full Metal Jacket; former New York City Mayor David Dinkins, who served for 13 months in 1945 and 1946; and the late photographer Eddie Adams, who honed his skills behind the camera as a combat photographer in the Korean War. Smith (Beyond Glory) lets the Marines do most of the talking and chimes in with explanatory essays on the nuts and bolts of boot camp life. While nearly all of the Marines' comments are positive, Smith also includes details about the 1956 Ribbon Creek training incident, in which seven recruits drowned during an ill-advised night march. He offers perspectives on the Marines' acceptance of African-Americans following WWII and its treatment of females in the past 60 years. Former Marines and military buffs will find much to pique their interest. (May) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

"In The Few and the Proud, drill instructors get to have their say. Blunt humor and candor about the Marines come across loud and clear...riveting reading."

Columbus Dispatch - Robert Flanagan

"One of the most engaging nonfiction books you'll ever read....Vivid, gripping, profound. And on the news."

Walter Anderson

"Using their own words, the author has captured the essence of the drill instructors."

Ron Christmas