Read it on the long run from Mumbai to Zurich to Dallas to Toronto to Edmonton to Yellowknife to Norman Wells to ...

I'm a slow reader.

Good book. Moves Iwo Jima way up in my estimation of heroic battles.

Also in light of the ongoing atrocities in the Middle East it shows that throughout the history of war the fighting man has faced brutality, dealt with it and tried to move on while the media and civilians back home who are not exposed to it do all the bitching, whining; or at times pretend it doesn't happen.

It also shows how much effort the media will put in to invent a heroic event when heroic events are occurring all around them ... but go unreported.

I have a better understanding of Ira Hayes after reading the book. There is more to him than the song.

I recommend the book, particularly for those who had fathers in WWII. If they served in the Pacific, even better.