Pfc. Ronnie "Kid" Gibson

Nicknamed for his age, Gibson is one of the young Marines thrown into the brutal island-hopping campaign of the Pacific War. He is green, eager to prove himself among seasoned men, and still carries something of boyish nerve into a war that will not indulge it.

The Pacific builds its horror through ordinary young men, and Gibson's nickname does the work before a line is spoken — here is someone who shouldn't be here yet. Tom Budge plays that youth plainly, without sentimentality, letting the surrounding chaos supply the dread rather than performing it himself.