William Manchester served in the Marine Corps during the Second World War.  He was wounded during the Battle of Okinawa.  After the war, Manchester established himself as a journalist in Baltimore, an adjunct professor at Wesleyan University, and an author.  In 1978, he returned to the Pacific and visited various places connected either with his service or the Pacific campaign.  That trip forms the basis of this book, “Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War.”