Joe Varucene was a US Marine who participated in the 1943 Battle of Tarawa. 18,000 Marines fought a bloody 76hour battle to seize the heavily fortified Tarawa Atoll from 4,500 Japanese defenders. At the end of the threeday battle, the Marines suffered almost 3,000 casualties. Of the 4,500 Japanese defenders, there were only 17 survivors. Varucene describes the battle in amazing detail including wading ashore under machine gun fire and close quarters combat.