Motivated by patriotism, 21-year old Everard Bullis of St. Paul, Minnesota--the only boy of five siblings from a middle-class family--enlisted in the U.S. Marines in 1917 and went to the Western Front. His clear-eyed memoir describes in detail the Fifth Marine Regiment's desperate stand against repeated German assaults at Belleau Wood, along with actions at Soissons, St. Mihiel and Blanc Mont Ridge. Historical figures appear, including Captain Frank Whitehead, George W. Hamilton ("America's Greatest World War I Hero") and General John J. Pershing.