Through these portals

the long version

"This memoir tells of the U.S. Army's essential role in the Pacific campaigns alongside the Navy and Marine Corps. America's sons born in the first quarter of the 20th century were forged in the twin crucibles of the Great Depression and World War II. The values and attitudes of these mostly idealistic young men ultimately sustained them in horrific trials against incredibly courageous, and often suicidally committed, Japanese soldiers blindly loyal to their superior officers and the Emperor.". "MacGregor graphically describes the dire Depression years of 1930s America, when he grew up in Spokane, Washington. He then takes readers through the war years and the savage, face-to-face small-unit actions in the Mariana Islands, the Philippines, and Okinawa from 1944 to 1945. MacGregor's heart-felt account is comparable to such classic Pacific war memoirs as William Manchester's Goodbye, Darkness and E.B. Sledge's With the Old Breed, at Peleliu and Okinawa."--BOOK JACKET.