June 24, 1943 Dear Mom and Dad, It's been almost 2 years since Pearl Harbor was attacked and since then, I've enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. We have been pushing from island to island trying to weed out all of the Japs. It's a hard business, but someone has to do it. We have been under constant fire for nearly 2 weeks on Okinawa since we landed. There's a thing we Marines call the "Thousand-yard Stare;" it's when you've been in battle and seen the cruelty of war. I have it, mom, and it's weird; you zone out and you can see your own death and what's to come. Last week, I saw our sergeant being stabbed to death by a Bonzai attacker in my "trance," and two days later, it actually happened. I also saw how I died; it's gruesome, so I will spare you the details... I love and miss yo