That's how Marines who stormed the small, remote Pacific island chain of Tarawa on Nov. 20, 1943 described the atoll. As the sun set that day on beaches ravaged by intense American aerial assaults ...

The Battle of Tarawa, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, took a heavy toll on American forces and led to outrage at home. Marines take cover from Japanese fire after making it ashore to Betio ...

Julian Smith, commander of the Second Marine Division, declared the enemy on Tarawa "wiped out ... of strikes by US planes, but those aerial strikes had been postponed without warning.

Nalazek lost his life somewhere on a sandbar the size of the National Mall, killed in action during the Battle of Tarawa ... a functioning American outpost. Aerial photographs and Defense ...