Customer Reviews

Islands of the Damned: A Marine at War in the Pacific

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

R. V. Burgin is in the last wave of World War II memoirists, and just in time. For 35 years, he says, he never talked about the war. It was only recently, in part driven by his involvement with HBO's dramatic miniseries "The Pacific," which covers the campaigns he fought in, that he and other veterans felt comfortable opening up. This plainspoken, humble personal account is among the results. It is a valuable first-person narrative and belongs in any history reader's library.

Burgin doesn't opine about grand strategy or second-guess commanders. He focuses on what he knew: life as a grunt in a 60mm mortar platoon that saw some of the worst fighting of the war, from Cape Gloucester to Peleliu to Okinawa. The perspective is immediate: "We were fighting uphill now, advancing in a wide arc through the jungle. It was raining, always raining. Every stream was swollen and the ground was gumbo. Moving forward was like trying to walk through oatmeal. I was still carrying around that mortar base plate, but we couldn't use it much because of the trees, so 90 percent of the time I took my place up front with the riflemen." Every Marine is a rifleman, including the mortarmen.

Burgin wasn't spared anything, and doesn't spare anything in this touching book. Read it during the week, and immerse yourself in HBO's miniseries on Sunday nights. You'll learn something important about the humble men who won the War in the Pacific.

It was a real pleasure to find another first person account of the Pacific war. As mentioned in other reviews, books like this are far and few between. Especially, since our World War Two veterans are passing away far too quickly.

This book was easy to read, flows very nicely, and isn't burdened by large amounts of historical data. It's personal account from the ground by a Marine who was really there. It does however, put into place the importance of the battles the author fought in.

In particular, I enjoyed the descriptions of living and fighting on the South Pacific islands. The book also contains the only example of a man using a bayonet in combat on any book I've ever read. Most importantly I think the book puts in perspective ghastly nature of the war in the Pacific, in particular the cave-to-cave fighting common among the campaigns.

Ironically, one of the major themes of the book is a love story. While I don't normally seek out this type of theme in a history book (or any other book for that matter), the author does a fine job of making his place in history far more personal by doing so. The best part is, it only amplifies this situation, without it distracting from the historical narration.

This book makes for an excellent companion to the classic With the Old Breed by EB Sledge. If you enjoyed this book you would this book and Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie...books I understand the mini-series The Pacific are heavily based on.

I was so lucky to to able to pick up aa advanced copy of ISLANDS OF THE DAMNED by R. V. Burin. What a book! It is easy to see why HBO would use it. This is another first hand account of the Pacific Theatre in WWII but don't just throw it in the pile, it is better than that. Now, I don't mean to knock the great WWII memoirs out there, check my reviews, I am a big fan. This is just to say Burgin has put together an exceptional book,filled with the human emotions that make war so insane but interesting. We watch him mature and rise in the ranks but more that rank into a tough seasoned Marine. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED whether you are a history buff, a Marine fan like me or just a reader. Go get this book.

Burgin was inspired to write his account following a discussion with a tradesman who knew nothing of Peleliu. I imagine though that plans for the HBO TV series, based in large part on the memoirs of his fellow mortar platoon member, Eugene Sledge, helped too. In any case Burgin's memoir is a worthwhile contribution to the genre and at times an interesting commentary on Sledge and the events he related in his very famous book.

Burgin joins the 1st Marine Division in Melbourne after its time on Guadalcanal. He is assigned to K Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines and fights on Cape Gloucester, Peleliu and Okinawa. He is an NCO and is sergeant of the platoon when Sledge joins. His role though was not firing mortars. He taught others how to do so and in battle he was out in front with the infantry, spotting targets. As such, he is very often a target himself and he engages directly, once at the closest of quarters, with Japanese soldiers. This occurs on Cape Gloucester and there is a surprising amount of combat here. He operated for a while with war dogs too, who sniffed out sleeping Japanese, who were then often quietly dispatched. He also witnessed Lane's heroics at Suicide Creek. There is then plenty of action on Peleliu, in particular his role in reducing the major bunker that Sledge wrote about. Burgin's perspective here is fascinating. He approached battle with the intent to kill. On Okinawa most of this is done via his mortars but he is again always in the front line and he has some very close calls.

It is very much a combat narrative. Burgin, though still a very young man, recognized early on the essential truth of the sometimes illogical aspects of military training. He realized it was meant to make him ready to kill and as such, he even saw the sense in denying the division a second stint of leave in Melbourne. It worked. When he enters combat he does not hesitate. There is quite a lot else too. He gives a sobering perspective on some occasions when the confusion and demands of combat saw Marines kill fellow US soldiers. He writes too on the surprisingly poor support they received, in terms of basic food and clothing needs. The impact of this atrocious state of affairs was best illustrated when he turned three prisoners in, to see them issued with fresh clothes, while he and his men stood in rags. They ceased bringing prisoners in after this. It is an amazing example (in a counter-productive sense) of the serious ramifications poor support of front line soldiers could have.

While this book seems with us due to the TV show, it is a legitimate story in its own right. There is insight into Sledge and some disagreements regarding his observations but it is by no means obsessed with him. Burgin's writing style is not a dramatic one but it is steady and always interesting. He does not shy away from writing about killing either. This is a good contribution to the genre (see my list for other accounts of Pacific battles). Quite Highly Recommended.

Corporal Burgin gave a different view of the same war, from the same Mortar outfit, as E.B. Sledge, and as two eyes help with binocular vision, these two accounts ["With the Old Breed", and "Islands of the Damned"] help us focus on the same hardships and tragedies. I like Burgin's approach to life, thus his approach to the outrageous requirments of War. His Texas upbringing on a farm helped him to accept what Private Sledge would object to...the toil and the filth of combat in the Pacific. Sledge made sure we understood how filthy and stinking the experience was, while Burgin had more of an overview, beyond that. It seems that Sledge had the war done TO him, which was understandable, and Corporal Burgin was taking the war to the Japanese, as well as caring for the men. When Burgin gets wounded, it is an inconvenience, because he is focused on the greater picture. Both accounts are classic accounts of a war that the Paratroopers of the European theatre knew little about...and dreaded being sent into. Fighting the Germans was horrible enough, but fighting the fanactical Japanese with flamethrowers by day and Ka-bars by night, was un unenviable task.

There is a quality within Burgin's book that triumphs over Eugene Sledge's graphic account...and that is the thing that all Americans seemed to prize the most: marrying and settling down. Corporal Burgin falls in love in Australia with a long-legged girl, and when the horror of his fight is ended, he goes home to await his sweetheart's arrival, and the beginning of what his generation fought and died for...love and family. The lusts of Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany pale before a world where young people want to put the killing aside and...live.

Eugene survived, but Burgin wins.

I read this book after reading EB Sledge's "With the Old Breed" and Robert Leckie's "Helmet for my Pillow." This is a really smooth read. It was like having Mr. Burgin across the table from me telling me about his WW2 experience. Well worth the money.

Right from the opening pages I was drawn in to this personal memoir of WWII. The descriptions of coming ashore in Peleliu, the detail, had me eagerly reading on. Its been a while since I was this drawn in to not only a WWII memoir but to any memoir/bio and couldn't wait to continue reading. Burgin's tale is heart wrenching and haunting and yet instills a sense of hopeful purpose that gives his account an edge over other memoirs.

The narrative is what makes this memoir immensely readable. Burgin tells it as though you are sitting around a campfire, drawing us into the moment and making it feel as though we were there with him. His attention to detail, the little things, helps the reader understand a time and situation that is hard to grasp unless you've actually lived through it. He doesn't fail to mention such details as walking by a discarded bazooka, or the more sickening details of the maggots and flies everywhere. We are treated to anecdotes of his fellow marines, such as Scotty, Sledge, Lieutenant Legs and so on, all of which add a rich and detailed description of what Burgin and the men he fought with went through.

Burgin also takes the reader on a linear walk through his life, briefly writing about his life pre-enlistment. We follow him through boot camp, rushed as it was since the Marine Corps cut the time in half to 6 weeks, and see some of the inner workings of how a WWII marine was molded and formed. Of course we also see Burgin as he progressed from a Gunner to a Sergeant and came out of three bloody battles: Cape Gloucester, Peleliu and Okinawa. The meat of his memoir is given in great detail of landings and battles he fought in and can only be told by someone who walked through hell and came out the other side. As Burgin says that there is nothing special about the hundreds of thousands of soldiers of WWII, but "everyone who fights for his or her country has something special to tell". Islands of the Damned is certainly special and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend. Islands of the Damned is now one of my favorite memoirs of WWII, for not only its detailed descriptions of important Pacific Theater battles but also in his grasp on life and love is it was interwoven with WWII.

5 stars.

R.V. Burgin is well known among the readers and worshipers of E.B. Sledge's classic, "With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa." Now, 29 years after Sledge's work, Mr. Burgin has published his own memoir "Islands of the Damned," with Bill Marvel.

First off, we shouldn't compare the two (but,let's face it, that's inevitable). Sledge's compassion and humanity, combined with his love of science and precision, produced what is probably the greatest World War II memoir. Burgin's book seems more like hearing a man sitting in his living room while you're over for a visit, telling war stories. Bill Marvel, Mr. Burgin's collaborator has helped Mr. Burgin fashion a brief and brisk read which, with a little effort, can be read in a day. It's like an apples and oranges comparison. More culturally sensitive readers (AKA "wusses") might be put off by Mr. Burgin's constant use of the word, "Jap" or "Japs," but to me, considering what cruelties the Japanese perpetuated that he saw during his service, Mr. Burgin can say whatever he likes in regards to his former enemies.

Obviously, Sledge's work will remain the standard, but if you want a memoir without as much introspection, that moves with vigor, then
this is the book for you.

The very real events of Islands of the Damned took place over sixty-five years ago yet it is a timely book relevant to today's war. The chilling effects of hand to hand combat on the individual have not changed in millennia, and as we prosecute our global war on terror it would be wise for us to become aware of the exacting toll it takes on those who fight our wars. Islands of the Damned will charge you with the deeply emotional demands of men faced with killing the enemy in defense of our country.

You will come to understand why unnecessary battles end up being fought and the physical and mental tolls of such battles. From the joys of watching porpoises and flying fish frolic in the wake of the ships carrying our Marines to the war, to the heartbreak of friendly fire causalities, you will learn how ordinary men can step up and perform extraordinarily valiant acts or make tragic mistakes that have lifelong consequences.

Historically this is a different view of the battles of New Britain, Peleliu and Okinawa than the traditionally accepted texts. R.V. Burgin will broaden your mind of what happened during these world changing battles. As the ranks of our World War II veterans grow thinner by the day, these first-hand accounts of front line events become more precious.

Read Islands of the Damned and personally connect with the feelings and expectations of regular guys off the farms and streets who were forced into war to by an enemy who breached the rules of combat and employed terrorist tactics long before September 11, 2001.

R.V. Burgin's book is a must read for those who are interested in a first hand account of some of the hellacious Pacific Battles. Burgin did an excellent job detailing his first hand experiences in some of the Pacific battles. He meshed the battles nicely with the USMC life in between the battles on Pavuvu.I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I am so glad that I purchased it. This is a definite keeper for my book collection! The book was a very fast paced read that left me with chills at times. I have also read Leckie's, Helmet For My Pillow. With all do respect to Leckie, read Burgin's account if you are looking for more information about the actual battles.