How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
We were heroes back in the United States. But I don't think any of us, struggling as we were to keep going and to do our jobs, could have felt less like a hero. (13.42)
At this point, Chester has no idea that back at home in America the newspapers are celebrating the Marines. Being a hero doesn't mean that he feels like a hero. Even if other people are saying so.
Quote #5
I'm not saying we were heroes, but we Navajo men always tried to do our best, just like we'd been taught by our families back home. (15.44)
Here, Chester traces his courage back to the values that he's learned from his family back on the Checkerboard. We can also see what a modest guy he is. He is a hero, but he says he just tried his best.
Quote #6
The general formula for numbers of invading troops needed to overcome entrenched troops was three to one. Thus we needed thirty thousand Marines to vanquish the ten-thousand-plus Japanese hidden in caves and tunnels on the island. The First Marine Division […] had only about nine thousand infantrymen, plus their 11th Regiment, Division Artillery. (16.7)
The odds are seriously against them, but the Marines still take on the Japanese on the island of Peleliu. This is the kind of courage that Chester and his buddies are called on to show again and again.