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He regularly visits the wounded at hospitals, talking to them in his Virginia drawl with a pipe clenched between his teeth, which produces such Pullerisms as "biz-ouack" for bivouack, "Nitmitz" for Nimitz. Before an attack he spends days with his men encouraging them and carefully inspecting their weapons. They will follow him to hell.
It was hell on Palau for his ist Regiment—as hot a hell as Chesty has ever stepped into. Some 60% of his unit were casualties.
Weary and unkempt, 46-year-old Chesty watched from under his awning as his men dug the Japs out of their limestone caves. "How do we get them out?" he said somberly. "By blood, sweat, and hand grenades."