Charles Tatum never knew what he got into when he signed up to
be a Marine. Like most young 18 year old boys, Charles thought
that his life was just beginning, he knew it all, and
nothing could stop him now. War changed him and RED BLOOD,
BLACK SAND
is the story of how.
I wasn't sure about this one at first; I saw it and thought
well here's another war story that is going to bore me to
death. Tragic yes, but I have not found very many soldiers
who could tell a story and keep readers involved.
However, much to my surprise and delight Tatum captured me
by the first few pages. The book swept me into the 1940's
just as if someone had turned back time. The things that
this boy did to prank his fellow officers made me wonder how
he lived long enough to go to war let alone fight in it! He
was a typical hot shot punk kid who had no real cares in the
world. Quite suddenly I was involved. I was involved with
the characters and I almost turned to the end just to see
who was still alive. I didn't, but it was tempting. Tatum
met his idol learning how to find the gun that saves him.
Sergeant John Basilone was an idol of Tatum's and already a
hero to his country by this time.
Tatum progresses the book forward onto the rocky beaches of
Iwo Jima where he is reunited with his idol, Basilone, and
he begins to watch his world fall apart.
It is on the rocky beaches of Iwo Jima that Charles watches
comrades fall, he watches his hero fall, and he watches and
waits for the day he would fall as well. That day never
happens for Charles. He is destined for something more and I
believe it is so that he could tell his tale. So that he
could tell the world what it was like to watch as one by one
everyone you kow is dead or dying and yet here you are
still fighting to survive. Tatum's recollection of those two
horrifying weeks will leave you shell shocked and stunned.
I will be honest and say that if you are not a strong
person, this story might not be for you. If you do not
believe war to be the horror that it really is, or if you
have never watched a war documentary well this story might
be too much for you too. It was not easy reading this book.
It was not easy getting involved with characters that I knew
were sure to die. But it was easy to keep turning pages,
grabbing tissues, and letting my heart be swept away by the
heroics and the will to survive that is so clearly displayed
by Charles Tatum.
This story is told as if it is happening right before our
eyes. We don't see the cold side of war, we don't get the
numbers, and we don't get left feeling cold and wondering
what it was really like to be there. No, this story is
reality told by a man who against all odds survived Iwo
Jima, saved some wounded, and has struggled to bring his
reality to life on paper for the benefit of generations to come.
In 1944, the U.S. Marines were building the 5th Marine
Division—also known as “The Spearhead”—in preparation for
the invasion of the small, Japanese-held island of Iwo
Jima….
When Charlie Tatum entered Camp Pendleton to begin Marine
boot camp, he was just a smart-aleck teenager eager to serve
his country. Little did he know that he would be training
under the watchful eyes of a living legend of the
Corps—Congressional Medal of Honor winner John Basilone, who
had almost-single-handedly fought off a Japanese force of
3,000 on Guadalcanal, and survived.
It was from Basilone andother "Old Breed" sergeants that
Tatum would learn how to fight like a Marine and act like a
man, as he went through the hell of boot camp to the raucous
port of Pearl Harbor with its gambling, gals, and tattoos,
to the island of death itself, where he hit the black sand
of Iwo Jima with 30,000 other Marines in the climactic
battle of the Pacific Theater.
It was on that godforsaken strip of land that Tatum and
Basilone would meet again under a hellish rain of bullets
and bombs—and where Tatum would make his own mark, carrying
ammo for the machine gun carried by Basilone. Together they
would lead the breakout off the beach, driving through and
destroying a swath of enemy soldiers in the first man-to-man
combat on Iwo Jima.
Red Blood, Black Sand is the story of Chuck’s two
weeks in hell, where he would watch his hero, Basilone,
fall, where the enemy stalked the night, where snipers
haunted the day, and where Chuck would see his friends
whittled away in an eardrum-shattering, earth-shaking, meat
grinder of a battle.
Before the end, Chuck would find himself, like Basilone,
standing alone, blind with rage, firing a machine gun from
the hip, in a personal battle to kill a relentless foe he
had come to hate. This is the island, the heroes, and the
tragedy of Iwo Jima, through the eyes of the battle’s
greatest living storyteller, Chuck Tatum.