TwentyTwo on Peleliu, George Peto
TwentyTwo on Peleliu, George Peto
4 Rating(s)
List: $29.99 | Sale: $21.00
Club: $14.99

Twenty-Two on Peleliu
Four Pacific Campaigns with the Corps: The Memoirs of an Old Breed Marine

Author: George Peto, Peter Margaritis

Narrator: Paul Brion

Unabridged: 15 hr 14 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 05/21/2019


Synopsis

On September 15, 1944, the U.S. First Marine Division landed on a small island in the Central Pacific called Peleliu as a prelude to the liberation of the Philippines. Among the first wave of Marines that hit the beach that day was twenty-two-year-old George Peto.

Growing up on a farm in Ohio, George always preferred being outdoors and exploring. This made school a challenge, but his hunting, fishing, and trapping skills helped put food on his family’s table. As a poor teenager living in a rough area, he got into regular brawls, and he found holding down a job hard because of his wanderlust. After working out West with the CCC, he decided that joining the Marines offered him the opportunity for adventure plus three square meals a day; so he and his brother joined the Corps in 1941.

Following boot camp and training, he was initially assigned to various guard units, until he was shipped out to the Pacific and assigned to the 1st Marines. His first combat experience was the landing at Finschhaven, followed by Cape Gloucester. Then as a Forward Observer, he went ashore in one of the lead amtracs at Peleliu and saw fierce fighting for a week before the regiment was relieved due to massive casualties. Six months later, his division became the immediate reserve for the initial landing on Okinawa.


About George Peto

A proud surviving member of the 1st Marines' "Old Breed," George Peto served with distinction throughout the entire Pacific War. He is the author or contributing author of several articles on the Pacific theater. In 2009, George was inducted into the Ohio Military Hall of Fame. He became a distinguished public speaker, sharing stories of his amazing life with veteran organizations, civil organizations, and schools in Ohio.


Reviews

Goodreads review by John on April 12, 2018

Fairly Interesting memoir of one Marine’s experiences during World War 2. A better job editing this book would have improved it greatly. Some of the stories are repeated and the chronology jumps around a lot, especially before the war. Most useful for someone wanting to know what it was like in Pele......more

Goodreads review by 7$MartyQ on November 15, 2018

Almost Fictitious George Peto was a rare exception to the rule. It was almost unbelievable that a marine who was in the campaigns that George Peto was in could walk away at the end of the war within a single trip to the hospital but George Peto managed to do it. His courage in the face of certain dea......more

Goodreads review by John on April 02, 2023

I was skeptical at first when I began to read this account. It was written not too many years ago by an aspiring writer based on interviews, also not too long ago, with Sgt (retd) George Peto, USMC. Embellishment seemed rife, and reconstructed conversations were, well, reconstructed and best guess.......more

Goodreads review by Jonathan on November 27, 2021

This excellent eyewitness account of WWII combat in four campaigns across the Pacific Theater transports the reader to the battlefront. The book spends some time on George Peto’s backstory, giving perspective and context to his life and preparation for what was to follow. Then, once he is deployed t......more

Goodreads review by Scott on August 06, 2023

Started listening in audiobook format but gave up prior to any combat descriptions. Terrific stories that Peto has probably told many times over the years, but the level of detail is too high to have great credibility for a personal memoir published 70 years after the fact. Not doubting for a minute......more