How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The Japanese were winning the Pacific. Our fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, had been the one deterrent to Japan dominating virtually all the Pacific islands. And now that Pearl Harbor had been crippled, the Japanese were clearly dominant. (1.45)
When we think of World War II, we tend to think of Europe and that mustachioed guy, Hitler. But the Pacific was the big battleground that the Americans and the Japanese fought over during the war.
Quote #2
A Marine floated nearby, his sightless blue eyes staring up at foreign sky […] My body went cold. My throat tightened up, and I struggled for breath [...] After that, I did my best not to look at the faces of the dead. (1.61)
This is Chester's first glimpse of a dead body in war. And it raises the question, how does he deal with death when it's all around him?
Quote #3
We pushed bodies and parts of bodies aside, some looking more like raw beef than the limbs of human beings, fought our way forward, and finally fell gasping on the beach. (1.64)
This quotation gives us a sense of how war dehumanizes people through death. The floating corpses look less like human beings than pieces of "raw beef." No, we don't want to eat that.
Quote #4
Total madmen, the Banzai terrified U.S. troops all through the war. Each Banzai was a one-man suicide mission, intent on getting himself killed while taking out as many enemy combatants as possible. (12.102)
Those Japanese have pretty creepy ways of getting to the Americans. Here, we get a sense of the tactics the Japanese used not only to kill the Americans, but also to terrify them.
Quote #5
During a lull, we could look around and see the guys who weren't going to last. They began talking to themselves in a steady stream, and their eyes focused where there was nothing to see. (13.2)
War isn't just a physical battle, it's a psychological battle. And a lot of the men lose the second, if not the first fight. What's worse, being hurt physically or going crazy?
Quote #6
We'd been warned about the crocodiles, which were plentiful and mainly active at night […] they were even more chilling when the animal tried to crawl into your foxhole. (13.56)
We'd think that the Marines have enough on their plates dealing with the Japanese enemy. But no: they have to deal with a hostile tropical environment. Who'd want to wake up in a foxhole with a crocodile snuggling up next to them? Exactly no one.
Quote #7
[W]e dug in as best we could in the saturated, root-filled soil. Wind blew and the night actually grew cold. We'd been warned to stay in our foxholes. (14.14)
For most of the fighting, Chester and his buddies live and sleep in foxholes. Sure it's safer there, but is it comfortable? Doesn't sound like it.
Quote #8
For seventeen days, the battle raged. When men ran out of ammunition, many of them fought hand-to-hand using bayonets affixed to their rifles. Combatants dodged from one tree to another. Japanese troops emitted terrifying screams. Everyone refused to give up. (14.44)
This quotation gives us a sense of just how brutal the fighting was during World War II. Hand-to-hand combat using bayonets? No thanks, we'd rather run the other way.
Quote #9
When we left the bunker and started to move forward again, we were totally unprotected. Many men got shot, killed or mutilated, crossing that airfield. (16.29)
In this quotation, Chester describes having to cross an airfield exposed to enemy fire. We get a sense of the danger that the Marines were often exposed to during the fighting with the Japanese. Boy those Marines are gutsy, crossing that airfield and knowing they might be kaput.
Quote #10
The Japanese enemy populated my dreams, continuing to plague me even when I was awake. Our invasions of hostile islands played like an endless film in my head, with me and my buddies exposed to enemy fire as we struggled toward the beach. (17.33)
In describing the way that he's haunted by the war even after his return home, Chester focuses on how the war continues for him long after it's ended. The war is one fight. Dealing with the trauma of the war is a whole other fight.