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No.4356
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BANZAI! CRUSH THE FOREIGN DEVILS!
STORY FERG HANDLEY N DECEMBER 1941, IMPERIAL JAPANESE FORCES BEGAN A SERIES OF LIGHTNING CONQUESTS ACROSS SOUTHERN ASIA. THE INVASIONS OF MANCHURIA AND NORTHERN CHINA HAD PROVIDED THEM WITH INVALUABLE COMBAT EXPERIENCE AND WITHIN SIX MONTHS THEY HAD EXPANDED THE EMPIRE FROM BURMA TO WAKE ISLAND. THESE WERE DARK DAYS FOR THE ALLIES AND MANY WONDERED IF THE LOST TERRITORIES WOULD EVER BE LIBERATED.
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ART OLIVERA COVER JANEK MATYSIAK
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4 AMERICAN FORCES SOON BEGAN TO FIGHT BACK, HOWEVER, LEADING TO A SERIES OF GRUELLING CAMPAIGNS ON WELL-DEFENDED, JUNGLE-CLOAKED ISLANDS. IN THE VANGUARD WAS THE U.S. MARINE CORPS, LIVING UP TO ITS MOTTO OF “FIRST TO FIGHT”.
YA WANNA LIVE FOREVER? LET’S GO, LEATHERNECKS!
OORAH!
JOE CONNERS HAD GROWN UP IN DENVILLE, A SMALL TOWN IN ALABAMA. THE SON OF A PLUMBER, HE WAS SIXTEEN YEARS OLD IN THE SUMMER OF ’41. ALTHOUGH HE’D HAD TO WORK AT IT, HE WAS ON HIS WAY TO LEAVING SCHOOL WITH DECENT GRADES.
THAT WAS A FINE ESSAY, JOE. KEEP IT UP AND YOU COULD MAKE SOMETHING OF YOURSELF IN LIFE.
HERE’S HOPING, MA’AM.
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5 JOE WAS A LIKEABLE KID, POPULAR WITH THE REST OF HIS CLASS. MOST DAYS AFTER SCHOOL HE AND HIS FRIENDS WOULD MAKE FOR A NEARBY PARK FOR THE INEVITABLE GAME OF BASEBALL.
JOE, YOU’RE UP. JUST WATCH OUT FOR THAT CURVE BALL OF HIS.
SURE WILL, BILLY.
HE DIDN’T KNOW IT THEN BUT THESE WERE THE HAPPIEST DAYS OF YOUNG JOE’S LIFE, LAUGHING AND JOKING WITH HIS FRIENDS AS THEY PLAYED IN THE HOT, SOUTHERN SUNSHINE.
YOU BAT LIKE MY GRANDMA, JOEY...AND SHE’S A HUNDRED AND NINETY-TWO!
YEAH? WELL, WATCH THIS, JOHNNY!
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6 JOE WAS AN ONLY CHILD, SO WHEN HE GOT BACK HOME THERE WERE ALWAYS PLENTY OF CHORES WAITING. SON, WHEN YOU’VE FINISHED THAT, I NEED YOU TO GIVE DIXIE A BATH.
SHE BEEN DOWN AT THAT MUD HOLE AGAIN THEN, MOM?
HE NEVER COMPLAINED, FOR HE KNEW HIS PARENTS WORKED HARD TO KEEP A ROOF OVER HIS HEADS. YES, HE’S A GOOD BOY, MARY. JUST A SHAME HE’S GROWING UP SO FAST.
SURE IS, WALTER.
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The ramp crashed down and
the US Marine spearhead troops launched themselves on to the beach and into a maelstrom of bullets and high explosive. Would they wrest control of the island from its fanatical Japanese occupiers? Would they even get off the beach?
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