A Few Good Men: A History of the Fighting Fifth Marines

The Fighting Fifth Marines is the USMC’s most decorated regiment. Its list of honors is long and memorable, encompassing France in World War I, Nicaragua during the Banana Wars, the Pacific theater in World War II, the Korean War, and every campaign since, including five years of combat in Vietnam and the liberation of Kuwait. 5th Marine veteran and Marine Corps historian Ronald J. Brown has written a sweeping, engaging history of this dedicated and distinguished American regiment.

Notable engagements in Okinawa, the Pusan Perimeter, Chosin, and the Persian Gulf dot the heroic lineage of the Fifth Marines. Fighting Fifth alumnus Red Mike Edson won the Medal of Honor at Guadalcanal. Lew Walt earned three Navy Crosses over the course of three wars with the 5th Marines. James Webb became one of the Vietnam War’s most decorated junior officers as a 5th Marine platoon commander and later became secretary of the navy. The regiment fought and won hundreds of unknown battles—anonymous warriors toiling without praise in peacetime and silently sacrificing their personal well-being in far-flung lands during war. These men of the Fifth Marine Regiment are owed an immense debt of gratitude by the nation. A Few Good Men is a fitting tribute to their patriotic service.

“A book to treasure, along with the memories of courage and sacrifice that span several generations of the Corps.”
—JAMES WEBB
Author of Fields of Fire

“The Fifth Marines is the only regiment to fight in all Marine Corps campaigns since World War I. Ron Brown knows the story because he lived it and wrote it in Vietnam and the Persian Gulf. This book honors all fighting Marines.”
—ALLEN R. MILLETT
Author of Semper Fidelis