Pacific Time on Target

When his unit was deactivated and its veterans sent home, Donner was not so fortunate.In early 1945, Donner was reassigned to the 11th Marines, the 1st Marine Division's field artillery. His new commander decreed that Donner would serve as a field artillery forward observer—just in time for the invasion of Okinawa. Teeming with close calls and near misses, frank yet sensitive observations of the brutality visited on Okinawa's civilians, and the horrors of frontline combat, Donner's account of his service with the "Old Breed" on Okinawa forms the core of his memoir. Donner's "FO" team accompanied both Marine and Army infantrymen into the bitter fighting at Wana Ridge, the Dragon's Tooth, and Shuri Castle. Miraculously unscathed by the Okinawa bloodbath, Donner was en route to California for his first opportunity for leave when he learned of the atomic bombs and war's end.Besides providing a candid, moving contemporary record of the combat experiences of a Marine Corps officer, Pacific Time on Target is an invaluable account of the harrowing life of an artillery forward observer, as few of these men survived to tell their stories. It will appeal to military historians and general readers alike.