As a mortarman in K-Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division (K-3-5), R.V. Burgin fought in the Pacific War at Cape Gloucester, then alongside his friend, Eugene Sledge, on Peleliu and Okinawa. R.V. Burgin’s exploits and heroism can be found throughout Eugene Sledge’s book, With the Old Breed and in his own book, Islands of the Damned, available from this site, autographed by R.V. Burgin himself!

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