In 1957, there was a movie out called Sad Sack. It was a very funny movie with Jerry Lewis who plays Private Meredith Bixby, a soldier who couldn't do anything right. Then in 1959, he starred in another movie call "Don't Give Up the Ship," where he manages to loose a ship. I recommend you watch both these movies if you want a good belly laugh. I also tell you about them because what you are about to read is the true story of the real Sad Sack.

You might be asking how do I know this? Well, it is because I lived it. Now that I look back on it I can see the humor in it, but at the time it was happening I wasn't laughing.

You might be thinking from the subtitle of this book, that this is going to be a story about someone marooned on a little island in the middle of nowhere and how they survived? If you did, you were wrong. But just like the subtitle says, part of this story is about living on a remote island in the south Pacific. It was south of Japan and part of Japan's Ogasawara Islands chain. Even though this island was only 5 miles long and 2 1/2 miles wide it was a very important island and it played a very key role in WWII.

I know you can get a lot of information about this island on the Internet, but in this book I am going to give you some first-hand information because I spent 10 1/2 months on this island and during this time a lot happen in my life, some funny and some things not so funny.

The name of this island, if you have not guessed it by now is Iwo Jima. This island had a nickname. It's called "The Black Pearl of the Pacific." The name came from the fact that all the beaches around the island were black and this was because of the volcanic ash that was mixed with the sand and gave it the black color. Yes, this was a volcanic island because of the volcanic mountain on the far end of the island.

What made Iwo so important was its location and the layout of the island that made a perfect landing field for aircraft during the war.

Now besides all the history of this Island, I will tell you what happen when I drove a bus off the top of Mount Suribachi and when I backed a forty foot lowboy into the side of a C124 aircraft. and a few other stories like when everyone on the island got ptomaine poisoning except for two people, and How we caught a great white shark with a truck. Like I said, even though I was only on the island 10 1/2 months a lot happen in my life. I will even include a few photos for you.

Also, I will let you in a what happen to me leading up to when and how I ended up on this island and how my life changed after getting off the island.

This book is going to be full of stories, and they are all true.