Four World War II infantrymen recover at an army hospital, and
struggle to readjust to the home front, in this New York
Times-bestselling novel.
At the end of a long journey across the Pacific, a ship catches sight of
California. On board are hundreds of injured soldiers, survivors of the
American infantry's battle to wrest the South Seas from the Japanese
Empire. As the men on deck cheer their imminent return to their
families, wives, and favorite girls, four stay below, unable to join in
the celebration. These men are broken by war and haunted by what they
learned there of the savagery of mankind. As they convalesce in a
hospital in Memphis, the pain of that knowledge will torment them far
worse than any wound. The third of James Jones's epics based on his life
in the army, this posthumously published novel draws on his own
experiences to depict the horrors of war and their persistence even
after the jungle is left behind.