The Thin Red Line

554 Pages·1991·2 MB·English

by  James Jones

THE
THIN
RED
LINE

JAMES
JONES
A Delta Book
Published by
Dell Publishing
a division of
Random House, Inc.
1540 Broadway
New York, New York 10036

Copyright © 1962 by James Jones
Copyright © renewed 1991 by Gloria Jones,
James Anthony Phillipe Jones, and Kaylie Anne Jones

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. For
information address: Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, New York.

The trademark Delta® is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries.

Reprinted by arrangement with Charles Scribner’s Sons
Published simultaneously in Canada

eISBN: 0-440-33411-X

This book is also available in print as ISBN 0-385-32408-1.
Contents

DEDICATION

SPECIAL NOTE

COMPANY ROSTER

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8
DEDICATION

This book is cheerfully dedicated to those greatest and most heroic of all
human endeavors, WAR and WARFARE; may they never cease to give us the
pleasure, excitement and adrenal stimulation that we need, or provide us with the
heroes, the presidents and leaders, the monuments and museums which we erect
to them in the name of PEACE.
Then it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that,
An’ Tommy, ’ow’s your soul?
But it’s “Thin red line of ’eroes,’
When the drums begin to roll—
—KIPLING

There’s only a thin red line between the sane and the mad.
—OLD MIDDLEWESTERN SAYING
SPECIAL NOTE

Anyone who has studied or served in the Guadalcanal campaign will
immediately recognize that no such terrain as that described here exists on the
island. “The Dancing Elephant,” “The Giant Boiled Shrimp,” the hills around
“Boola Boola Village,” as well as the village itself, are figments of fictional
imagination, and so are the battles herein described as taking place on this
terrain. The characters who take part in the actions of this book are also
imaginary. It might have been possible to create a whole, entirely fictional island
for the setting of this book. But what Guadalcanal stood for to Americans in
1942—3 was a very special thing. To have used a completely made up island
would have been to lose all of these special qualities which the name
Guadalcanal evoked for my generation. Therefore I have taken the liberty of
distorting the campaign and laying down smack in the middle of it a whole slab
of nonexistent territory.

And naturally, any resemblance to anything anywhere is certainly not
intended.

“Styron’s Acres”
Roxbury, Conn.
Thanksgiving Day
1961
COMPANY ROSTER

(Partial)

“C” COMPANY, UMTH INFANTRY

9 Nov 1942

—Stein, James I, Capt, “C” Co Cmdg
—Band, George R, 1st Lt, Exec
—Whyte, William L, 2d Lt, 1st Pl Cmdg
—Blane, Thomas C, 2d Lt, 2d Pl Cmdg
—Gore, Albert O, 2d Lt, 3d Pl Cmdg
—Culp, Robert (NMI), 2d Lt, 4th (Weapons) Pl Cmdg

ENLISTED MEN

1st SERGEANT
—Welsh, Edward (NMI)

STAFF SERGEANTS
—Culn, Guide 1st Pl
—Grove, Ldr 1st Pl
—Keck, Ldr 2d Pl
—MacTae, Supply
—Spain, Guide 3d Pl
—Stack, Ldr 3d Pl
—Storm, Mess

SERGEANTS
—Beck, Sqd Ldr Rfl
—Dranno, Co Clk
—Field, Sqd Ldr Rfl
—Fox, Sqd Ldr Rfl
—McCron, Sqd Ldr Rfl
—Potts, Sqd Ldr Rfl