James Jones - The Thin Red Line

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 Scribners 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 Scribners Sons

Published simultaneously in Canada

eISBN: 0-440-33411-X

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

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 its Tommy this, an Tommy that,
An Tommy, ows your soul?
But its Thin red line of eroes,
When the drums begin to roll
KIPLING

Theres only a thin red line between the sane and the mad.
OLD MIDDLEWESTERN SAYING

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 19423 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.

Styrons Acres
Roxbury, Conn.
Thanksgiving Day
1961

(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
Thorne, Sqd Ldr Rfl
Wick,Sqd Ldr Mtr

CORPORALS
Fife, Fwd Clk
Jenks, Asst Sqd Ldr Rfl
Queen, Asst Sqd Ldr Rfl

PRIVATES 1st CLASS
Arbre, Rflmn
Bead, Asst Fwd Clk
Cash, Rflmn
Dale, 2d Cook
Doll, Rflmn
Earl, Rflmn
Fronk, Rflmn
Hoff, Rflmn
Land, 1st Cook
Marl, Rflmn
Park, 1st Cook

PRIVATES
Ash, Rflmn
Bell, Rflmn
Carni, Rflmn
Catch, Rflmn
Catt, Rflmn
Coombs, Rflmn
Crown, Rflmn
Darl, Rflmn
Drake, Rflmn
Gluk, Rflmn
Gooch, Rflmn
Griggs, Rflmn
Gwenne, Rflmn
Jacques, Rflmn
Kline, Rflmn
Kral, Rflmn
Krim, Rflmn
Mazzi, Mtrmn
Peale, Rflmn
Sico, Rflmn
Stearns, Rflmn
Suss, Rflmn
Tassi, Rflmn
Tella, Rflmn
Tills, Mtrmn
Tind, Mtrmn
Train, Rflmn
Weld, Rflmn
Wills, Rflmn
Wynn, Rflmn

REPLACEMENTS
Spine, Morton W, Lt Col, 1st Bn Cmdg
Bosche, Charles S, Capt, C Co Cmdg
Creo, John T, 1st Lt, C Co
Payne, Elman W, 2d Lt, C Co
Tomms, Frank J, 2d Lt, C Co

OTHERS
Barr, Gerald E, Rear Adm, US Navy
Grubbe, Tassman S, Lt Col, Rgtl Exec
Tall, Gordon M L, Lt Col, 1st Bn Cmdg
Roth, Norman M, Lt Col, Asst Div Srgn
Haines, Ira P, Maj, Rgtl Srgn
Gaff, John B, Capt, 1st Bn Exec
Task, Fred W, Capt, B Co Cmdg
Carr, Frederick C, Capt, Rgtl S-1
Achs, Karl F, 2d Lt, B Co
Gray, Elijah P, 2d Lt, B Co
James, Sgt, Bn Hq
Hoke, Pvt, of Cannon Co
Witt, Pvt, of Cannon Co

The two transports had sneaked up from the south in the first graying flush of dawn, their cumbersome mass cutting smoothly through the water whose still greater mass bore them silently, themselves as gray as the dawn which camouflaged them. Now, in the fresh early morning of a lovely tropic day they lay quietly at anchor in the channel, nearer to the one island than to the other which was only a cloud on the horizon. To their crews, this was a routine mission and one they knew well: that of delivering fresh reinforcement troops. But to the men who comprised the cargo of infantry this trip was neither routine nor known and was composed of a mixture of dense anxiety and tense excitement.

Before they had arrived, during the long sea voyage, the cargo of men had been cynicalhonestly cynical, not a pose, because they were part of an old regular division and knew that they were cargo. All their lives they had been cargo; never supercargo. And they were not only inured to that; they anticipated it. But now that they were here, were actually confronted with the physical fact of this island that they had all read so much about in the papers, their aplomb deserted them momentarily. Because though they were from a pre-war regular division, this was nevertheless to be their baptism of fire.

As they prepared themselves to go ashore no one doubted in theory that at least a certain percentage of them would remain on this island dead, once they set foot on it. But no one expected to be one of these. Still it was an awesome thought and as the first contingents came struggling up on deck in full gear to form up, all eyes instinctively sought out immediately this island where they were to be put, and left, and which might possibly turn out to be a friends grave.

The view which presented itself to them from the deck was a beautiful one. In the bright, early morning tropic sunshine which sparkled off the quiet water of the channel, a fresh sea breeze stirred the fronds of minute coconut palms ashore behind the dun beach of the nearer island. It was too early yet to be oppressively hot. There was a feeling of long, open distances and limitless sea vistas. The same sea-flavored breeze sifted gently among the superstructures of the transports to touch the ears and faces of the men. After the olfactory numbness caused by the saturation of breath, feet, armpits and crotches below in the hold, the breeze seemed doubly fresh in their noses. Behind the tiny cocopalms on the island masses of green jungle rose to yellow foothills, which in turn gave place in the bright air to hulking, blue-hazed mountains.