The Marine: A Novel of War from Guadalcanal to Korea

The Marine is a great read. It is well written and authentic. James Brady is able to bring you into the story and keep you there. I was unable to put the book down.

James Brady's novel is a good read. It follows the World War 2 to Korean War fictional career path of a U.S. Marine Colonel named James "Oliver" Cromwell. A military boxing champion, he serves with a marine raider battalion, and later serves as an ambassadors aide; many traditional marine officers view his career with envy and suspicion. Therefore, Colonel Cromwell never realizes a personal goal to command a battalion in combat. The author does not pull his punches in describing the 1942 flawed Makin Island raid by Carlson's Raiders. Brady also ignores political correctness by pointing out the dismal combat record of the Army's 24th Infantry Regiment during the Korean War, "an all black unit with mostly white officers and lousy morale." Brady does error in citing the 4 th Marines "as men who would die" during the infamous World War 2 Bataan Death March. The 4 th Marines were defending Corregidor Island at the time of the Death March. Brady also errors citing Marine paratroopers making a combat jump and "floating down" over Guadalcanal. These marines fought with great valor on Guadalcanal, but "floated in " and hit the beach by boat.

Brady's latest work, The Marine, is a spectacular novel. I fully enjoyed reading it the entire time. It begins as the main charachter, Lt. Col. James T. Cromwell, is heading for college at Notre Dame, and follows him through his days as a boxer, and then as a raider and as a regular marine. His charachter inspired me and fueled my interest in the Marines with his life like bravery and fearlessness. While the main charachter is quite unorthodox, Cromwell is exactly what the marines want in their men. This is a must read for any war novel buff.

James Brady is taking you back to Korea. This novel is written in a somewhat different style than "Warning of War" and "The Marines of Autumn." It somewhat more folksy with shorter chapters but reads well. It tells the story of a Marine from his formative days as a boxer at Notre Dame to serving in several roles as a lieutenant colonel during the first part of the Korean Conflict. Brady's novels about the Corps always feature some unusual historical elements and this one has more than the others. The main character faces different kinds of issues than the those in the other Brady novels. For example, while his career progresses nicely, ironically it is haunted by serving a span as a young officer in Carlson's Raiders (an elite unit viewed with suspicion by many cadre). The book gives a good feel for the various conflicts it describes and for the career of the bachelor Marine officer.

I have read all of Brady's Marine books (Warning of War, Marines of Autumn, The Coldest War, and this.) "The Marine" is a solid adventure yarn chronicling the career of one Lt. Col. James T. Cromwell, an Olympic boxer who "met" Hitler, a WWII Marine Raider of repute, and a frustrated babysitter of MacArthur in the opening stages of the Korean conflict. This book cements the credentials of James Brady as a military storyteller and is well worth the time and money. However, with my own Marine background, I found one aspect of the text RFI (real blank irritating). There are constant references to artillery as .105mm and .155mm etc. This is just like refering to an eight inch naval cannon as a .8 inch gun. Changes the mental image just a bit, eh? I sincerely hope that this is simply the work of an ignorant editor, but I hope for better in the future.