U.S. Marine Raiders of WWII

Many WWII buffs are familiar with "Carlson's Raiders," an elite group of Marines trained to perform dangerous missions of extraordinary complexity; essentially, the forerunners of today's Special Forces. Unfortunately, their story is buried here in a jumble of interviews, wartime footage, and dense explanations of the political machinations that resulted in not one, but three, Marine raider outfits being formed, including Carlson's. Much is made of the influence that James Roosevelt and his father, FDR, had in creating a special unit, but the video would have been more interesting if it had remained focused on the political wheeling and dealing instead of jumping back and forth from interviews with surviving Marine raiders mixed in with stock wartime photography. The Raiders story deserves to be told, and this video will have to serve as an introduction to these three elite units until something better comes along. But given its drawbacks, this is recommended only for public libraries with extensive military history collections. Aud: C, P. (J. Carlson)