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THE THIN RED LINE JAMES JONES A Delta Book Published by Dell Publishing a division of Random House, Inc. 1540 Broadway New York, New York 10036 Copyright © 1962 by James Jones Copyright © renewed 1991 by Gloria Jones, James Anthony Phillipe Jones, and Kaylie Anne Jones All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. For information address: Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, New York. The trademark Delta® is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Reprinted by arrangement with Charles Scribner’s Sons Published simultaneously in Canada eISBN: 0-440-33411-X This book is also available in print as ISBN 0-385-32408-1. Contents DEDICATION SPECIAL NOTE COMPANY ROSTER CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 7 CHAPTER 8 DEDICATION This book is cheerfully dedicated to those greatest and most heroic of all human endeavors, WAR and WARFARE; may they never cease to give us the pleasure, excitement and adrenal stimulation that we need, or provide us with the heroes, the presidents and leaders, the monuments and museums which we erect to them in the name of PEACE. Then it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, An’ Tommy, ’ow’s your soul? But it’s “Thin red line of ’eroes,’ When the drums begin to roll— —KIPLING There’s only a thin red line between the sane and the mad. —OLD MIDDLEWESTERN SAYING SPECIAL NOTE Anyone who has studied or served in the Guadalcanal campaign will immediately recognize that no such terrain as that described here exists on the island. “The Dancing Elephant,” “The Giant Boiled Shrimp,” the hills around “Boola Boola Village,” as well as the village itself, are figments of fictional imagination, and so are the battles herein described as taking place on this terrain. The characters who take part in the actions of this book are also imaginary. It might have been possible to create a whole, entirely fictional island for the setting of this book. But what Guadalcanal stood for to Americans in 1942—3 was a very special thing. To have used a completely made up island would have been to lose all of these special qualities which the name Guadalcanal evoked for my generation. Therefore I have taken the liberty of distorting the campaign and laying down smack in the middle of it a whole slab of nonexistent territory. And naturally, any resemblance to anything anywhere is certainly not intended. “Styron’s Acres” Roxbury, Conn. Thanksgiving Day 1961 COMPANY ROSTER (Partial) “C” COMPANY, UMTH INFANTRY 9 Nov 1942 —Stein, James I, Capt, “C” Co Cmdg —Band, George R, 1st Lt, Exec —Whyte, William L, 2d Lt, 1st Pl Cmdg —Blane, Thomas C, 2d Lt, 2d Pl Cmdg —Gore, Albert O, 2d Lt, 3d Pl Cmdg —Culp, Robert (NMI), 2d Lt, 4th (Weapons) Pl Cmdg ENLISTED MEN 1st SERGEANT —Welsh, Edward (NMI) STAFF SERGEANTS —Culn, Guide 1st Pl —Grove, Ldr 1st Pl —Keck, Ldr 2d Pl —MacTae, Supply —Spain, Guide 3d Pl —Stack, Ldr 3d Pl —Storm, Mess SERGEANTS —Beck, Sqd Ldr Rfl —Dranno, Co Clk —Field, Sqd Ldr Rfl —Fox, Sqd Ldr Rfl —McCron, Sqd Ldr Rfl —Potts, Sqd Ldr Rfl

Description:

This book will make you experience the mind-numbing horror of front line combat on Guadalcanal over a three month period in 1943. As the book opens, you join Charlie company as it prepares to enter the battle for Guadalcanal, which is already well underway. The entire book stays with Charlie company