"War is very simple, you get the enemy or he gets you. It’s a very simple proposition. I’m not talking about strategy. I’m talking about on the line. Most of the fighting that we did with the Japanese was done at very close quarters. In the jungle, in the bush and all that, you would be fighting maybe like 10 or 15 feet away from the other guy. They were right on top of you and you were right on top of them.
People don’t die only by a bullet going through the heart, often times they die because half the head is blown away. There’s nothing pretty. It’s nothing glamorous.
We came across an area where a bunch of guys had been wounded. One guy, a bullet had went across the lining of his stomach, and he was just sitting there holding his intestines in his hands. Another guy, the concussion had blown off his helmet and it took his scalp right with it, and the helmet was laying over there, and the scalp had fell out of it. You know, you get hardened to it." - Sgt. Bill Lansford, 2nd Raider BN, Bougainville, 1943 #stayzero #zerofoxtrot #ww2 #marines #raiders