Fightin' Marines #67

Sergeant Thibeau trades his job as a bayonet instructor and poster boy for the Marines to ship out for Guadalcanal—only to discover that looking fearless in a recruiting picture is a world away from holding your nerve in actual combat. When a patrol into enemy territory goes sideways and his men are pinned down, the "picture-book marine" has to find out whether he's got what it takes when the fighting gets real.

Vince Nardine volunteers into the Marines in 1942 hoping to serve his country, but finds himself tormented by Sgt. Turk Magee, a brutal drill instructor who makes life miserable for every boot in the platoon. When Nardine finally strikes back against Magee's relentless abuse, he's court-martialed—but a desperate appeal keeps him with his unit as they ship out for the Pacific theater. At Tarawa, where some of the war's bloodiest fighting awaits, Nardine and Magee face each other across the chaos of combat, and the true measure of each man is revealed under fire.

A Marine helicopter crew fights for survival when Viet Cong forces hidden in the Vietnamese landscape gun down their chopper during a 1965 combat mission. With both pilots badly wounded and the enemy closing in from all sides, PFC Tallman and the crew must find a way to get their damaged bird airborne before the guerillas can finish the job. In "Hidden Eyes," the unseen enemy proves as deadly as the terrain itself.

In January 1928, Marine pilots undertake a daring rescue mission in Nicaragua, using innovative air support to aid a small ground force cut off by rebel bands in the jungle. When a wounded officer faces certain death, a Marine pilot makes the dangerous decision to evacuate him by aircraft—a first for combat medicine—and returns again and again to airlift the wounded and resupply his stranded comrades. As the squadron proves the vital potential of air power, they learn lessons that will shape military strategy for decades to come.