Battle Cry - Leon Uris [256]
I saw them move to the top of the steps. An older man was there and a boy. Danny took off his cap and reached for the man’s hand. I could see his lips move. “Hello, Dad…I’m home.”
I saw the four of them fade into the shadows of the barnlike station. Danny turned and raised his hand at the door for a moment. “So long, Mac.”
And they stepped into the twilight. The rain had stopped.
“Train for Wilmington, Philadelphia, Newark, and New York…Gate twenty-two.”
I walked down the steps.
“Read all about it! Marines on Iwo Jima!”
“All right, you people! Get aboard!”
And I remembered the words in the book I had taken from Marion’s body.
Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter, home from the hill….
IN WRITING a book such as Battle Cry it was necessary to decide early in the work whether or not to fictionalize the names of units, ships, battles and places. Because the book covers such a vast territory and so many units are involved I would have had to fictionalize the entire history of the Pacific War to avoid any such identifications. To do justice to a story of the Marine Corps I felt that a sound historic basis would be the only fair avenue of approach. The Second Marine Division, its battles and movements are a matter of public record. There are many instances where events have been fictionalized for the sake of story continuity and dramatic effect.
After deciding it would be folly to attempt to veil the fact that this was the Second Marine Division, and more specifically the Sixth Regiment, there arose a problem that could possibly cause future misunderstandings. There may or may not be alive today men who held various ranks and commands in the Corps, duplicating ranks and commands held by fictitious characters in this book. For example: we know there was but one commander of the Marines in the Pacific, there could be but one Division commander at Tarawa, and the same goes for the Sixth Regiment, the Second Battalion, and Fox Company. The men who held these commands in no way resemble the imaginary characters in the book who held the same commands and can in no way be identified as the same people. They are the creatures of my imagination and I alone am responsible for them and their actions.
My pride in serving with the Marines is obvious to anyone reading Battle Cry. I admired and respected the officers of my battalion. But, as a Pfc I had little knowledge of their personal lives or motives.
Huxley, Shapiro, Philips, Bryant, Bryce and the rest were necessarily drawn solely from my imagination, and any similarity to real persons holding their commands is truly a case of mistaken identity.
I hope this explanation of the circumstances clarifies any questions and I sincerely trust no one will suffer embarrassment.
—LEON M. URIS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I do not see how anyone trying a first novel
can do it without sympathy, help and faith of friends.
No one who ever tried has had better friends than I have.
About the Author
LEON URIS ran away from home at age seventeen, a month after the attack on Pearl Harbor, to join the Marine Corps, and he served at Guadalcanal and Tarawa. His first novel, Battle Cry, was based on his own experiences in the Marines, which he revisited in his final novel, O’Hara’s Choice. His other novels include the bestsellers Redemption, Trinity, Exodus, QB VII, and Topaz, among others. Leon Uris passed away in June 2003.
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Resounding praise for New York Times bestselling author
LEON URIS
“The best storyteller of his generation.”
Denver Post
“One of America’s most popular and successful novelists.”
Boston Globe
“[An] author of page-turning prose.”
Washington Post
“A spellbinding storyteller.”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Among the top 20th century novelists.”
Tulsa World
“A storyteller in a direct line from those men who sat around fires in the days before history and made the tribe more human.”
Pete Hamill
“He may be gone, but…he won’t be forgotten.