Fightin' Marines #11

When a turbulent river halts the U.N. advance into North Korea, fighting engineers struggle to build a pontoon bridge under relentless enemy fire—until two Marines assigned as observers discover the real cost of the job. As artillery, snipers, and floating demolition charges threaten to destroy the bridge again and again, Biff Barnes and Smokey Walsh must make a desperate choice to stop the bombardment and finally get the crossing finished.

A collection of remarkable true stories from the Marine Corps, featuring everything from extraordinary acts of patriotism to bizarre coincidences and wartime mishaps that defy belief. From a serviceman's letter taking an unexpected 22,000-mile detour to a combat medic's unusual battlefield injury, these curious facts showcase the strange and inspiring moments that defined the Marines' service during World War II.

Sgt. Jack Rogers is assigned to lead a green platoon into combat in Korea, hoping to train a replacement—but his best candidate, Pvt. Clay Wilde, a decorated veteran from Guadalcanal and Okinawa, refuses promotion and insists on staying a private. When the platoon is ordered to hold a strategic depression called Devil's Pocket against a massive enemy breakthrough, Rogers and Wilde scout ahead as the tension between duty and Wilde's mysterious reluctance to lead comes to a head. As the attack intensifies and casualties mount, Wilde finds himself thrust into command when it matters most—with the platoon's survival hanging on his decisions.

Biff Barnes and Smokey Walsh catch a lucky break when Sergeant Kennedy assigns them to retrieve the unit's misdirected mail from a forward position—but their simple errand turns into a harrowing ordeal when enemy fire forces their jeep off the road and straight into the hands of Communist troops. Captured and pressed into service by the enemy, the two marines must rely on quick thinking and nerve to turn the tables, sabotage an enemy mortar position, and make their escape—only to face a reckoning back at camp that's almost as dangerous as the firefight they survived.