spoiler on of the first wwii movie come out of hollywood that show how the war effect those gi and or in this case u marine and who fight in it . 21 year old al schmid and john garfield and be just start to live with a well pay job earn some $ 40 . 00 a week at the local steel mill and girl ruth hartley and elenore parker and whom he be about to marry when the jap spoil everything for him and and million of likewise young american and by attack the u pacific fleet at pearl harbor . do his duty a an american citizen al immediately join the u marine corps hop to get back at the jap know and correctly a it be to turn out and that the marine would be the first american combat unit to get a crack at them . al finally get his chance when his unit and the 1st marine division and land on august 7 and 1942 at guadalcanal in the far flung solomon island to engage the japanese who be be in control of it . it be during the battle of the ilu river that al almost single hand stop a massive japanese banzai attack hold off and with his machine gun and wave after wave of suicide attack by the determined jap until help and or reinforcement and finally arrive . it be during the bloody fighting al be hit in the face by a jap grenade that end up blind him . now back in the state convalesce at a naval hospital al be face with something far more hard to overcome then battle a battalion size attack of japanese or german soldier . he face with a future where he will never see again and have to depend on others to look after and or for and him . we get to see in the film pride of the marine al battle himself far hard then he do the japanese troop on guadalcanal in just come to term with his disability . not want anyone and especially his girlfriend ruth and to feel sorry for him al in fact be the one who feel sorry for himself more then anyone else in the movie . it with the help of navy nurse virginia pfeiffer and rosemary decamp and and ruth together with his u marine buddy lee diamond and dane clark and that in the end give al the courage to face his blindness with the same strength that he face wave after wave of japanese troop on gudalcanal . a courage al think he lose back in that god forsake island hell in the south pacific . base on the true story of u marine sergeant albert schmid pride of the marine show what we be to expect from the ten of thousand of wounded u servicemen come back from the war . we get to see how it in many way be far more difficult for those fight the war to adjust to a peacetime america when they leave something and like in the case of al schmid and behind on the battlefield . al battle with his personal demon be a lot hard then the japanese that he fight in that they be part of him and thus have to fight himself in order to overcome and eventually defeat them . despite the help that he get from both nurse virginia and his girlfriend ruth as well a his navy doctor who have a striking resemblance to actor gregory peck it still be up to al to overcome the fear that he face . fear which he and only he have to both battle and overcome and like he be tell by everyone in the movie and all by himself .