armada
a fleet of warships
bandolier
a belt with loops and pockets for cartridges, worn over the shoulder
banzai charge
a horde of Japanese soldiers in a suicidal, running attack
bivouac
an improvised military encampment without shelter or protection from enemy fire
Brobdingnagian
gigantic, a reference to the land of the giants in Jonathan Swift's novel Gulliver's Travels
Bushido
the code of the samurai, or the "Way of the Warrior," greatly distorted by the Japanese military in the 20th century
caisson
a wagon for transporting ammunition, also used in soldiers' funerals for the casket
foxhole
a small pit big enough for one or two soldiers
gung ho
the idea of constant teamwork and brotherhood embedded in the minds of Marines during World War II
howitzer
a cannon with a short barrel used for firing at angles of high elevation
K rations
emergency field rations of concentrated or dehydrated meals for when other food is not available. Named for the American physiologist Ancel Keys
LST
an oceangoing military ship, used by the Marines for landing troops and heavy equipment on beaches
LVT
acronym for "Landing Vehicle Tracked," the amphibian tractors that transported the Marines from the LSTs to shore
mangrove swamps
tidal shores and marshes full of low trees with roots that interlace above ground, like those on Bougainville
obsidian
a dark volcanic glass similar to granite, like the terrain at Camp Tarawa on the Big Island of Hawaii
salvos
a successive discharge of artillery and bombs
Semper Fidelis
Latin for "always faithful," the motto of the US Marine Corps
shrapnel
fragments of an explosive, such as a bomb or shell
transubstantiate
to change the form or substance of something into something different, as of a photograph into a bronze statue
Unit 3
the pouch carried by a corpsman in battle, by which they were identified by those needing medical attention
