King Company 3/5 has been plugged into the action around the imposing Japanese defenses of the Shuri Line in southern Okinawa. Just as most of the 1st MarDiv Marines expected, they were ordered south to relieve battered Army units of the 27th Infantry Division. Now they're facing the most formidable obstacles that General Ushijima could devise for his Thirty-Second Army to hold off the American push to conquer the Ryukyu Islands. The Marines are dug in along a section of the line facing the infamous Wana Draw with the 6th Marine Division on their right flank and what seems like every Japanese artillery battery in the world pounding them day and night. And to top it all off, the monsoons have hit bringing pelting rains that have turned the area into a stinking, muddy swamp. Morale is melting with the rain and with unfortunate incidents like the rounds from an abortive artillery fire support mission that landed short and right on King Company. No one knows for sure whether it was bad dope called in by a Forward Observer or a miscalculation back at the battery that fired for them as they went over into the assault on a nearby ridgeline, but the effect was devastating. Sledge and some of his fellow mortarmen had been drafted into the assault as back-up riflemen and they were right up front when the friendly arty landed on them. King Company's new commander, Capt. "Stumpy" Stanley, was forced to withdraw and call off the assault until the fire support situation could be rectified. Meanwhile, the Wana Draw and similar bastions along the Shuri Line still must be taken by straight-ahead infantry assaults, so Sledge and his buddies know what lies ahead for them as the battle for Okinawa continues. There's good news from the Home Front for some of our Marines. PFC Robert Leckie, formerly of H-2-1, has reached Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego. If the Docs give him the OK, he's due for some leave with his family back on the east coast. Meanwhile, we continue the attack in the Western Pacific. Semper Fidelis.