The fighting at Okinawa in mid1945 was reaching a breaking point for the restless US Marines, and sanity was going out the door. Almost two months of bitter battle under mud, rain, blood, uninterrupted Japanese artillery barrages and mortar strikes were taking their toll on the leathernecks.

20yearold Marine Private Eugene Sledge watched as the Japanese soldiers launched continuous kamikaze attacks with swords unsheathed when they were cornered and knew there was no way out.

Sledge had also witnessed how his fellow Marines had turned into beasts who resorted to the same grisly tactics employed by the Japanese military.

With every push the Marines made towards conquering the island, they seemed to be losing some of their humanity. Still, the fight had to go on; the war’s outcome depended on it…

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