Fightin' Marines #38

Lieutenant Cowboy Case and his battle-hardened Marine squad push north through the Philippine jungles toward Tala-bara, hunting down Japanese die-hards refusing to surrender after the fall of Manila. What looks like a welcoming village feast turns into a carefully sprung trap, and the lieutenant's men must fight their way out of a brutal ambush. Fast-paced action and sharp squad dynamics make this a standout entry in the war anthology.

When S/SGT. Fisher's bomber takes flak over New Guinea's dense jungle in 1943, he finds himself stranded and quickly captured by a suspicious village chief—who, scarred by American air strikes, sees the Marine as an enemy rather than an ally. Outnumbered and alone with no rescue in sight, Fisher must use his wits and resourcefulness to escape a grim fate and turn the tables on both his captors and the Japanese forces hunting the island. This is a taut survival tale where quick thinking and nerves of steel become a soldier's best weapons in the unforgiving jungle.

During the brutal 1943 landing at Tarawa, eighteen-year-old PFC Clay Muldoon finds himself hauling ammunition for Cpl. Joe Mega's machine gun—a relentless, exhausting task that keeps him running back and forth under heavy fire for thirty-six grueling hours. As the gun becomes the linchpin of the Marines' advance, Muldoon's tireless work helps turn the tide, but when command decides to award a medal for the gun's success, a question arises that cuts to the heart of who deserves recognition for victory.