I finally finished "Shots Fired in Anger". Very interesting in that you can really see the differences 33 years can make. The first part of the book, dealing with the author's time on Guadalcanal, was written in 1946-47 and reflects his youthful enthusiasm for war. He almost treats it as a lark, a romantic adventure, as he marches through the tangled underbrush and snipes some shellshocked Japanese after a US mortar barrage. By the end of the story, he starts to shift from enthusiastic adventurer to, well, lazy. He doesn't want to go gallivanting around the jungle on silly missions when organized Japanese resistance has finally been broken just to mop up some starving holdouts, and he is often lackadaisical in his attitudes towards orders. The luster is gone, but he's still cocky.
The second part, detailing his time with Merrill's Marauders in Burma, was written in 1980. In this part of the memoir, he is very cognizant of the potential to get killed, and though he still performs some youthful feats of braggadocio, he's well aware of the stupidity of the actions and chalks it up to youth. By the end of the story, it's clear he just wants to fight the war and go home, rather than win some kind of ephemeral glory. The Japanese have apparently taught him to appreciate tactics and the unique advantages of the US soldiers' equipment. The Japanese loved frontal assaults with bayonets, which worked fine against poorly armed and trained Chinese militiamen, but failed miserably against veteran US troops armed with semi-automatic and automatic rifles and plentifully supplied with ammunition. Still, throughout the book, George praises the steadfast determination of the Japanese troops, and the hardships they're willing to endure to win. Several times he mentions that, had they been intelligently trained and led, they may well have won several of the battles. He also vastly prefers most of their ancillary equipment, such as mess kits, backpacks, shovels and tarps, though he feels the US boots and uniforms are marginally better. Both tended to rot away, but at least the US stuff was green to match the jungle instead of light khaki (though this made an excellent backdrop for his front sight).
All in all, a good read from the frontline infantryman's perspective, and has some interesting insights into guerrilla warfare as practiced by the US Army in WWII.