Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of The Last Parallel: A Marine's War Journal

The Last Parallel: A Marine's War Journal
hardtack avatar reviewed on + 2700 more book reviews


So, what was it like to be an enlisted Marine on the front lines of Korea toward the end of that war? Although the lines were essentially static, both sides did heavy patrolling and casualties were still incurred.

Marine Ross was a corporal, a weapons repairmen who volunteered for an infantry company and served as a rifleman, fire team leader and then squad leader. He froze and joked with his buddies and tells us about the everyday life of a Marine on the front lines. He gives us insight into the personalities of his fellow enlisted and officer Marines. We see some of them wounded and other killed. He describes keeping your head down under a Chinese mortar barrage and slugging it out with rifles and grenades at close quarters in the rice fields at night. Surviving means keeping your wits and your sense of humor.

A great tale of men at war.