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Shop nowBloody Ridge and Beyond
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Learn moreA story of sacrifice and defiance at Guadalcanal, from the New York Times bestselling coauthor of A Higher Call and Biggest Brother
On the killing ground that was the island of Guadalcanal, a two-thousand-yard-long ridge rose from the jungle canopy. Behind it lay the all-important air base of Henderson Field. And if Henderson Field fell, it would mean the almost certain death or capture of all 12,500 marines on the island.
But the marines positioned on the ridge were no normal fighters—they were the hard-fighting men of Edson's Raiders, an elite fighting unit within an already elite Marine Corps. Handpicked for their toughness and submitted to a rigorous training program to weed out those less fit, they were the best of the best.
For two hellish nights in September 1942, about 840 marines—commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Merritt Austin "Red Mike" Edson—fought one of the most pivotal battles of World War II in the Pacific, clinging desperately to their position on what would soon be known as Bloody Ridge.
Wave after wave of attacking Japanese soldiers were repelled by the Raiders, who knew that defeat and retreat were simply not options. In the end, and against all odds, the defenders prevailed.
Bloody Ridge and Beyond is the story of the First Marine Raider Battalion, which showed courage and valor in the face of overwhelming numbers, as told by Marlin Groft, a man who was a member of this incredible fighting force.
Marlin F. Groft was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1939 to 1941, and then became a silk-screen printer in a textile factory. He joined the Marine Corps after Pearl Harbor and, following boot camp, volunteered for the First Marine Raider Battalion under Lieutenant Colonel Merritt A. Edson, serving with that unit until its dissolution. Assigned to the Twenty-Ninth Marine Regiment of the newly formed Sixth Marine Division, he served beyond the end of the war, seeing duty in China until the end of 1945. Groft and his wife, Vivian, live in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Larry Alexander has been a columnist for the Lancaster Newspapers, Inc., a newspaper in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, since 1993. He retired from the paper in 2015. While with Lancaster Newspapers, he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2005 and has won state-level journalism awards. His first book, Biggest Brother: The Life of Major Dick Winters, the Man Who Led the Band of Brothers, was published in 2005 and made the New York Times bestseller list. He followed up his first success with Shadows in the Jungle: The Alamo Scouts behind Japanese Lines in World War II and In the Footsteps of the Band of Brothers: A Return to Easy Company’s Battlefields with Sgt. Forrest Guth, both published in 2010. He then coauthored A Higher Call with journalist and historian Adam Makos, which also made the New York Times and international bestsellers lists, and Bloody Ridge and Beyond with Marlin Groft.
Joe Barrett began his acting career at the age of five in the basement of his family's home in upstate New York. He has gone on to play many stage roles, both on and off-Broadway, and in regional theaters from Los Angeles, Houston, and St. Louis to Washington DC, San Francisco, and Portland, Maine. He has appeared in films and television, both prime time and late night, and in hundreds of television and radio commercials. Joe has narrated over two hundred audiobooks. He has been an Audie Award finalist eight times, and his narration of Gun Church by Reed Farrel Coleman won the 2013 Audie Award for Original Work. AudioFile magazine has granted Joe fourteen Earphones Awards, including for James Salter's All That Is and Donald Katz's Home Fires. Regarding Joe's narration of John Irving's A Prayer For Owen Meany, AudioFile said, "This moving book comes across like a concerto . . . with a soloist-Owen's voice-rising from the background of an orchestral narration." Joe is married to actor Andrea Wright, and together they have four very grown children.
Reviews
“In a world obsessed with comic book heroes, we forget that real supermen once hacked through jungles, paddled through swamps, and fought eyeball to eyeball for our freedom. They were called ‘Marine Raiders,’ and Marlin Groft was one of them. Vivid and powerful, his story leaves you reaching to tip your cap.”
“Whitey Groft was there, and it shows in every line of Bloody Ridge and Beyond: A World War II Marine’s Memoir of Edson’s Raiders in the Pacific. Written with acclaimed war historian Larry Alexander, this account of the fight for Tulagi, of the hellish night-fighting defense of Bloody Ridge on Guadalcanal and afterward, reads like an American Iliad—epic yet excruciatingly personal, riveting, and authentic in every detail.”
“If you want a story of courage in the face of fear, intense fighting despite overwhelming odds, and brotherhood in the midst of horrific warfare, then this book is for you. Whitey Groft went through what no man should ever need to endure. He recounts his story with grit and poignancy, and he pulls no punches in describing the horror he encountered during World War II. This book is unflinching, descriptive, and comprehensive. A must-read.”
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