At the recommendation of a number of my readers, I followed up my reading of Eugene Sledge’s book With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by reading Robert Leckie’s book that covers much of the same ground: Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific.
Robert Leckie enlisted in the Marine Corp like so many of his fellow Marines in response to the attack on Pearl Harbor. His recounting of his career in the Corp from boot camp to the war in the Pacific in places like Guadalcanal and Peleliu runs parallel to Eugene Sledge, with both of them fighting on Peleliu where Leckie was caught in an explosion which led to his honorable discharge from the Marines. He later became a reporter and author.
This is evident when reading the two books which invariably are compared as both cover the war in the Pacific and both authors are central characters in the HBO mini-series The Pacific. Where the writing of Eugene Sledge is raw and graphic, Leckie’s writing style is more what one would expect of a man who wrote for a living. At times he gets a little too flowery with the language but overall it is an excellent book that is less combat focused like With The Old Breed and spends more time in the daily life of the Marines. Leckie certainly got up to some shenanigans, stealing food and getting liquored up, at one point even threatening an officer while hammered.
The two books really complement each other, starkly different styles looking at some of the same events. I would recommend both and definitely that you should read them closely together but Helmet for My Pillow certainly stands on it’s own as a searing glimpse into the hell these young men were thrown into.
His book “Challenge For The Pacific “ is, in my opinion, the very best overall view of the air, land and sea battles on and around Guadalcanal. Very engaging.
Robert Leckie was in two campaigns with the 1st Marine Division prior to Peliliu. He was on Guadalcanal, which was the turning point of the Pacific war. While on Guadalcanal, he took part in the pivotal battle of the Tenaru River, a major American victory.
Leckie was also in the New Britain/Cape Glouchester campaign, which saw the 1st MarDiv mature into the most seasoned amphibious and jungle warfare force in the entire Pacific.
By the time Eugene Sledge first saw action on Peliliu , Leckie and the rest of the Division were beginning their third major combat campaign. The greatest tragedy of the Peliliu campaign is that it was entirely unnecessary. MacArthur wanted to secure his Eastern flank for his invasion of the Philippines, but Peliliu was over 500 miles East, so it would have not been a factor in any case. Numerous Navy and USMC commanders counseled Nimitz to bypass Peliliu, which could easily have been done, but Nimitz felt (wrongly) that the operation was too far along to cancel.
By this time in the Pacific war, the Japanese had changed their strategy to defense in depth, and as a result Peliliu became a meat grinder, and the 1st MarDiv was literally destroyed within about a month.
When the division landed on Okinawa six months later, it was no longer the same outfit of seasoned jungle fighters, as the great majority of them, including Robert Leckie, had been killed or wounded on Peliliu.
The Sarge says make your warface so mean that snowflakes cry.
“You’ll Be Sor-ree!!” by Sid Phillips – Phillips and “Sledgehammer” Eugene Sledge were lifelong friends from the Mobile, Alabama area, and both served as Marines in combat in the Pacific Theater. After the war, Phillips became a physician, and Sledge a university professor of biology. They remained close until Sledge’s death in 2001. Phillips passed away in 2015 at the age of ninety-one.
During his life (1922-2004), William Manchester was famous as one of the finest writers and biographers in the English language and also as a professor of English. However, before that, he was in the Marine Corps and saw extensive action in the Pacific Theater during WW2. His war ended when he was badly-wounded on Okinawa, but he had participated in other campaigns previous to that one. His memoir of his wartime time service, “Good-Bye Darkness,” is one of the finest works of its kind about the war, and is well-worth seeking out.
Gunnery Sergeant “Manila John” Basilone is today regarded as a “Marine’s Marine” and his name is legend within the Corps. He never wrote an autobiography, and did not survive the war – but there are a number of decently-done biographies recounting his life and exploits. Along with Sledge, Phillips and Leckie, he was one of the central characters in the HBO mini-series “The Pacific.”
I just bought “We die Alone” by David Howarth
a story of the Norwegian Resistance fighters in WWII
The meme in the beginning says it all. How many of these men went public and denounced their government and their own part as pawns in these banker wars?? How many refused to sanction any more carnage by keeping their progeny from joining?? Very, very few – my uncle was one. North Africa, Italy, D-Day and the Bulge. Two Purple Hearts. Bronze Star etc. Loved his country but hated the politicos that sent him. Kept his son out of Vietnam and me from joining all together. Would vehemently chastize anyone and everyone that spoke in favor of getting us into any war, all the way up to Afghanistan.
Not to impugn their bravery but I refuse to play along with the “Greatest Generation” bullshit and ennoble guys that, after experiencing first hand the meaning of sacrificial lambs, really didn’t do their patriotic duty and call out the real enemies sitting in D.C. and corporate boardrooms!