My Life As a Jarhead
Ralph Walker-Willis, 2000, Tucson, The Patrice Press,
137 pp., 15 photographs, $12.95, pb only.
ISBN 1-880397-37-4

"A terrific blast to my rear slammed me flat on my face. Debris fell all over and around me. A very large something slammed down beside me. I realized it was, until a minute before, a human being. Now it was almost beyond recognition, burned black and bloated, its arms and legs still jerking like a puppet."

That’s how Ralph Willis described his first moments on the beach at Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. After many days of ferocious combat, he and his exhausted comrades were invigorated when they saw the American flag being raised atop Mount Suribachi in one of the most dramatic moments of World War II. With a clear, easy-to-read style, Willis alternates both humor and poignancy in describing the ubiquitous K rations or the killing of his comrades.