As the son of a WWI veteran (Purple Heart & Silver Star ) I thought the book was great. However, on page 333 of the paperback edition the author states " There was no doubt that the marines were in the bloodiest battle since Gettysburg." The USA suffered 6,800 killed and 26,000 casualties on Iwo. During the first four days of the Meause-Argonne battle in WW1 we suffered 45,000 casualties. There was a total of 26,277 killed there making it the bloodiest single battle in US history. At Gettysburg there were 3,155 Union troops KIA and 3,903 confederate troops killed for a total of 7,058 slightly more than those killed on Iwo.