FAITHFUL WARRIORS

A combat Marine remembers the Pacific War.Faithful Warriors is a memoir of World War II in the Pacific by Lieutenant-Colonel Dean Ladd, USMA (Ret.), a combat veteran of the 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. Written with award-winning author Steven Weingartner, Colonel Ladd’s book chronicles his experiences as a junior officer in some of the fiercest fighting of the war, on Guadalcanal, at Tarawa, and on Saipan and Tinian. Ladd’s recollections and descriptions of life--and death--on the far-flung battlefronts of the Pacific War are vividly rendered, and augmented by from the men who served with and under him in his wartime journey across the Pacific.Dean Ladd grew up in the Marine Corps; and the Marine Corps grew up in World War II. Faithful Warriors tells the story of how both came of age in history’s greatest conflict. Written with award-winning author Steven Weingartner, the book chronicles Ladd’s journey through eventful times and extraordinary circumstances: prewar training outside San Diego; garrison duty on Samoa after the attack on Pearl Harbor; fighting on Guadalcanal; rest and recuperation in New Zealand; savage battle and terrible suffering at Tarawa; recovery in Hawaii; more fighting on Saipan and Tinian.