Fightin' Marines #77

In the Mekong Delta, the 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, pushes into the village of Vi Duc under the watchful eye of Talbot Cleeves, a sharp-tongued observer with a grudge against the U.S. military’s presence in Vietnam. As tensions simmer between the skeptical journalist and 2nd Lt. Tom Eglund, a sudden flash of movement from the jungle sends the Marines on edge—only CPL. Red Iverson’s quick reflexes keep them from reacting too fast.

When a Marine platoon prepares for their first combat mission into hostile territory, SID LUBIN—a quiet, unassuming fighter who'd rather rely on his wrestling and karate skills than brawl with his squad mates—volunteers for the most dangerous job: descending into a network of Viet Cong tunnels to root out enemy fighters and supplies. As Lubin proves himself in the claustrophobic darkness below, his commanding officer discovers that sometimes the ones who seem least likely to fight are the ones with the most to prove.

In October 1950, as UN forces drive North Korean armies toward the Yalu River, an enormous Chinese military force enters the Korean War undetected—marching only at night and dispersing into the landscape before dawn, invisible to American and UN reconnaissance. When the Chinese finally strike at both the Eighth Army and the Marines, the full scope of their hidden invasion becomes clear, and one Marine Division faces a punishing retreat against vastly superior numbers.

In the tense heat of a jungle ambush, Capt. Silensky leads PFC. Becker and CPL. Frank Moore from the chopper landing zone toward Delta Company’s position, the air thick with danger. As the enemy closes in, the squad is forced into a desperate fight—when the shooting starts, one man’s quick reflexes and a single reload might be all that stands between them and disaster.