- A unique perspective on the cost of war, both on the battlefield and at home
- Examines a little-known yet emotionally charged facet of one of history’s great battles
- Previously unpublished portraits and records bring long-dead heroes to life
- Details ongoing efforts to find and identify servicemen of all branches in a race against time
Nearly 400 U. S. Marines who fell in the Guadalcanal campaign have yet to be accounted for. They were the victims of pitched battles and lonely patrols, enemy ambushes and friendly fire, hard fighting and poor planning. Some were buried in makeshift military cemeteries or isolated graves, and others simply vanished. Their remains eluded search parties and confounded expert anthropologists. They were reported as ‘missing’ or ‘not recovered’ or ‘presumed dead’, and their families left to wonder at their ultimate fate.
An administrative decision closed the book on their lives. Now, seventy years later, researchers are writing the next chapter using archival sources, veterans’ accounts, family lore and battlefield archaeology.
Leaving Mac Behind examines the lives, last moments and legacies of some of these Guadalcanal Marines – and the history and future of the mission to bring them home.
| BOOK ISBN |
9781781557341 |
| FORMAT |
234 x 156 mm |
| BINDING |
Hardback |
| PAGES |
288 pages |
| PUBLICATION DATE |
29 August 2019 |
| TERRITORY |
World |
| ILLUSTRATIONS |
38 black-and-white photographs |
Geoffrey W. Roecker is the creator of MissingMarines, a research initiative dedicated to telling the stories of non-recovered USMC personnel from the Second World War era and providing support to MIA recovery organisations. The relative of a naval officer lost in the battle of Savo Island and a Marine officer killed in action on Saipan, Roecker earned his MMH from Norwich University in 2015, and maintains ongoing research projects at www.missingmarines.com and www.1stbattalion24thmarines.com.
