The Last Lieutenant

A Foxhole View of the Epic Battle for Iwo Jima

By: John C. Shively

Narrated by: Tim Campbell

Iwo Jima: two words that will forever bring to mind the 36 days of continual, chaotic combat in which the U.S. Marines fought the entrenched Japanese for every inch of the tiny volcanic island. When it was over, more than 26 thousand Americans were killed or wounded, and only slightly more than two hundred Japanese defenders survived. Twenty-seven Medals of Honor were awarded - many posthumously.

Jim Craig was a platoon commander with the Marines on Iwo Jima. This is his story, as told to his nephew John C. Shively. In a particularly vivid and exciting account of some of the most intense fighting of the Pacific War, the immediacy of the story is heightened by the detail that Shively's research has added to Craig's recollections. The result will pull you onto the beach, into the foxhole, and over Mount Suribachi with those who lived, fought, and died on Iwo Jima.

The book is published by Indiana University Press.

©2006 John C. Shively (P)2013 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Shively has documented in a very readable fashion the transformation of a young Hoosier into a disciplined member of the United States Marine Corps. His book is a detailed and touching tale of one man's experience of the battle of Iwo Jima..." - (Major General Fred Haynes, USMC - Ret.)

Riveting account--Iwo Jima

This is not the history of the battle of Iwo Jima but instead is the story of one man Lt Jim Craig and his platoon of marines. Jim Craig is the uncle of the author John C. Shively. Shively ask Craig to tell his story of what he went thorough on Iwo Jima. Therefore, the story is just from the view point of Craig and his men going from the beach and their battle from foxhole to foxhole for 26 days of fighting. It is apparent in the story that Shively has done a lot of research about the battle, the terrain to be able to write such a realistic story. The book will keep you riveted, so be prepared to spend the time with you audio player. Shively starts the story with Craig a freshman student at Purdue University on December 7, 1941 and follows his life to the end of his enlistment approximately a year after the war ended. This gives the reader a feeling of what happened to the life of a young man during WWII. As an avid reader of WWI and WWII it is easy to become entrenched in the "big picture" of the wars, this book brings back the individual family or personal story of the war. If you are a history buff or just looking for a good story this is a book for you. Tim Campbell did a good job narrating the book.