This is not another sanitized or politically correct war memoir. Besides the author's recollections of shooting Japanese soldiers and seeing a lot of good Marines being killed, tragic incidents such as friendly fire casualties and wartime atrocities such as the beheading of an enemy corpse, or the shooting of an already-surrendered Japanese sniper who had caused great harm are also mentioned. The author also offers a rare glimpse into what it was like to attend the original U.S. Marine Raider training camp, as well as what life was like on an overcrowded amphibious assault ship & preparations for the assaults on Guam and Okinawa and the recovery period in between.