List of maps : Region of Marine beachhead, Guadalcanal ; Solomon Islands ; Cape Torokina area, Bougainville, Solomon Islands ; Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll ; Cape Gloucester area of Western New Britain ; Marshall Islands and Eniwetok Atoll ; Roi-Namur Islands, Kwajalein Atoll ; Saipan, Marianas Islands ; Tinian Island, Marianas Islands ; Guam Island ; Peleliu, Palau islands ; Iwo Jima, Japanese southern islands ; Southern Okinawa.

The Marine Corps and its mission -- Days of disaster -- The turning point: Guadalcanal -- Breathing spell -- Back into the jungle: Bougainville -- Blood, coral-and history : The Gilberts -- Muddy victory: Cape Gloucester -- Enemy territory: the Marshalls -- Westward toward the rising sun -- Cracking the second line: Saipan -- Our first reconquest: Guam -- Gateway to the Philippines: Peleliu -- “I have returned” -- The inevitable island: Iwo Jima -- The last act: Okinawa -- Epilogue -- Appendices: Chronology of war in the Pacific -- Table of organization of Marine division -- Order of battle, U S Marine Corps in the Pacific -- Lieut. Governor Saito's last message to his troops -- general Erskine’s “Smith-Chui” dispatch -- Glossary and ship chart.