I Promise You I'll Be Home: Korean War Letters of a U.S. Marine

Al Martinez, a 21-year-old Marine sent to the front lines of the Korean War, dispatched letters almost daily to his young bride, Joanne. In battle, he experienced the worst that war can bring, and then he served as a combat correspondent and as writer and editor of his regimental newsletter, the Ridgerunner. After the war, he entered a career in journalism, becoming a featured columnist for the Los Angeles Times where he would earn three shared Pulitzer Prizes.

Written from the unique perspective of an obviously gifted, professional writer at the beginning of his career, his letters home from the war captured his experiences beautifully and eloquently, inviting the reader in as he told stories with immediacy, literary pacing, narrative flow, emotional power and depth of understanding. In this collection of his wartime letters are memorable accounts of his lived experience, filled with the dangers, hardships, fear, friendships, and even humor of life at the front. His vivid, often humorous pen-and-ink drawings are included and capture scenes from the front lines.