Introduction / Joseph H. Alexander -- An American flag on foreign soil / Richard Zacks -- Gamble of the Marines / Raymond J. Toner -- The Battle of Bladensburg / Joshua Barney -- Dispatches from the Mexican War / George Wilkins Kendall -- A Civil War Marine at sea / Miles M. Oviatt -- Marines signaling under fire at Guantanamo / Stephen Crane -- Miracle at Belleau Wood / Alan Axelrod -- Henderson Field / Joe Foss with Donna Wild Foss -- The Battle of Bloody Ridge / John B. Sweeney -- Woman Marine / Theresa Karas Yianilos -- Navajo weapon / Sally McClain -- Tarawa : the first day / Robert Sherrod -- Peleliu : the bloody ridges / Russell Davis -- The old breed and the costs of war / Eugene B. Sledge -- to the summit with the flag / Richard Wheeler -- Men from Mars / Ernie Pyle -- Frozen Chosin / Martin Russ -- A rumor of war / Philip Caputo -- The Khe Sanh / Ron Steinman -- Phase Line Green / Nicholas Warr -- Stalking the general / Charles W. Henderson -- Storming Kuwait with the U.S. Marines / Molly Moore -- From Baghdad with love / Jay Kopelman.