Von Rom
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ORIGINAL: Doggie
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ORIGINAL: KG Erwin
Chris, forgive me for jumping in, but "With the Old Breed
at Peleliu and Okinawa" was written by Dr. Eugene B. Sledge, who served with the 60mm mortar section of Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division in these two battles. His memoir is regarded as a classic account of the Pacific war as viewed from the eye of a private soldier. Having read this, I can certify that it deserves to be called a classic. First published in 1981, it is now available in paperback, with an introduction written by Paul Fussell, author of "The Great War and Modern Memory".
Dr. Sledge was interviewed in several Pacific war documentaries, including the excellent "The Bloody Hills of Peleliu". Regrettably, he passed away in 2001.
To understand the daunting challenge in presenting an honest picture of the horror and hatred that dominated the USMC vs Japan battles in the Pacific, you must read this book. Dr. Sledge tells it like it was, straightforward and without any hint of bowing to political correctness. It is harrowing and unforgettable.
Anyone who's expecting another Bridge to Far is in for a shock. With the Old Breed is the most harrowing, graphic account of the pacific war I have ever read.
A movie version true to the book will be more like a horror flick, with an abundance of rotting corpses and fat maggots. No political correctness for certain. The Marines hated the Japanese, and Sledge describes this hatred in no uncertain terms. He makes no apologies for showing the Japanese absolutely no quarter. Fans of chivalry and the Geneva convention will find these concepts did not exist in the Pacific theater.
With the Old Breed sounds like a book worth reading. It sounds like my kinda book.
Three veterans of the First Marine Division have written accounts of WWII in the Pacific. E.B. Sledge in this book, William Manchester in "Goodbye Darkness," and Robert Leckey in "Strong Men Armed." Sledge's book gives an honest, plain spoken, first hand account of two horrific campaigns. He pulls no punches in describing the brutality and the horror, but he doesn't dwell on it. He merely describes it in a matter of fact fashion. Leckey's book ("Strong Men Armed") doesn't dwell on personal experiences, but gives the vast panorama of the Navy/Marine Corps island hopping campaign, and helps to put Sledge's personal memoir into the context of the whole war in the Pacific. Manchester's book ("Goodbye Darkness") reads something like the out-loud ruminations of a mental patient working through unresolved issues on the psychiatrist's couch.Leckey is a noted military historian who has written a number of very good books on the subject. Manchester is a noted author, and of the three has the most recognizable name. Sledge, however, although not a professional writer, is the First Division alumnus who has written the best book on the Pacific War. (Leckey runs a close second and Manchester a distant third).
When reading about historical events, one must consider the source. Dr. Sledge is an excellent source on the subject of Marines in combat in WWII. Dr. Sledge was really there at Peleliu and Okinawa, and on the front lines. No post-war historian could possibly describe the realities of combat with the accuracy of one who was really there. This book is a treasure not only because of its accuracy, but because it is so rare. Bookstores today are full of first-person accounts of Vietnam War veterans, but similar writings by veterans of WWII are extremely rare. If you want to read a generalized, sanitzed version of combat in the Pacific war, pick up a typical history book. However, if you want a definitive description of young American Marines fighting the ghastly horrors of combat-the worst reality of war-then this book is a must read. In my opinion, books such as this should be mandatory reading for high school students, so that they might have some understanding of how many Americans have fought and died to preserve the freedoms they now enjoy.
This is a gripping account of combat on Peleliu and Okinawa during World War II, without embellishment, without literary flourish. The narrative is simple, unadorned, raw. Sledge--a "fugitive from the law of averages" who survived some of the Pacific War's bloodiest battles--doesn't allude to Hemingway or Remarque, doesn't reference past wars (except fleetingly in discussing the martial tradition of the Corps); he's not interested in connecting his experiences to the ancient line of wars and warriors. Instead, he describes combat as it was, as he saw it and participated in it. Sledge takes readers onto those bloody islands--the relentless fighting on Peleliu, the stinking hell of Okinawa.Sledge stresses over and over again that war is a waste, "a terrible waste." Young bodies are ripped and torn apart; young men are struck down in their prime and stripped of decades of potential life. Mentally, it is a waste, too. Exposed to brutal combat, civilized men quickly become savage themselves and, for example, pry gold teeth from dead--and, on at least one occasion that Sledge mentions, from wounded and still living--Japanese. There are many other moments throughout the book where the reader winces. And yet, while war is not glorious, there are qualities that men can show under fire, that shine brightly in comparison to the brutality: love, loyalty, bravery, esprit de corps, compassion. Sledge stresses those, too.This is not an antiwar book, though. Sledge entered the abyss of war, endured hardships, confronted death, saw men torn down. He knows war is not pretty, not fun, not romantic. And yet he also knows that it is sometimes necessary and that, as citizens, we must sometimes sacrifice for our country. He concludes: "With privilege goes responsibility." So it does.
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa > Customer Review #1:
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Best book describing war
"With The Old Breed" is a stunning eye witness account of one Marines trip from Boot Camp to the South Pacific during World War II. Sledge writes an autobiographical and historical account of his own experiences as a member of K Company, Third Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division. Coming late to the war in 1944, Sledge "only" participates in two of the famous 1st Marine battles - Peleliu and Okinawa. Throughout his account he speaks of his training, the closeness of combat and the horrors of war.
After initially enlisting in the Marines in 1942, Sledge enrolled in Marine ROTC but like may others in his class, he felt the call of the war and after a semester he went to boot camp. It was here that he got his first taste of Marine training. By this time the Marines had plenty of combat veterans who had been rotated home to fill the ranks of instructors. The effect of having veterans train the newest can be measured by their initial survival in combat. The instructors prepared Sledge and his peers well with tough, realistic training - training that would keep them alive in the first days in combat. His state side training was followed up with more once he reached the Pacific and a healthy dose of iron discipline. Again, the hard training paid off for Sledge. Later in the war the Marines ran out of time for proper training and integration of new troops. The result was dead Marines, to new to know what to do. Training and discipline were the difference between life and death in the initial days in combat. Sledge received and absorbed his training and went home without a scratch.
Though Sledge does not specifically address it, I was struck by the closeness of the combat he faced. Peleiu was a only 12 square miles - 6 miles long by 2 miles wide. Given that the average artillery piece of the day could range more than 6 miles, Peleiu was a division sized knife fight that lasted 30 days. 30 horrible days of almost non-stop fighting. Even when sent to the "rear" artillery and snipers were a constant danger. Okinawa was more of the same but on a larger scale. 60 miles long and between 2 and 18 miles wide, the Americans put a Field Army up against more than 100,000 entrenched Japanese. The vast majority of the island was covered by indirect fire and snipers were again a constant danger. Multiple Corps fought side by side where the island was barely 3 miles across. That anyone survived let alone prevailed through 80 days of bullets filling the air is amazing.
Unlike many military writers who only saw combat in pictures, Sledge was there. He writes a Marines thoughts in Marine words. And unlike writers who wax poetic about the intense experience of men under fire, Sledge repeatedly calls warfare what it is - a waste. A waste of men and material. A destroyer of lives and land. The only good he finds in his service are the friendships that were born and continue. Okinawa is an "abyss" and he tells of a battlefield so littered with dead that pieces of flesh fly with the shrapnel and mud flung by exploding artillery and mortars. He recalls a friend tricking him into not pulling the gold teeth out of a dead corpse by warning him of germs. Only later does he realize that his friend was trying to save his soul not his health.
When old men sit and decide to send young men to kill and be killed, they should be forced to read Sledges words. War not only kills but also justifies killing. There are times and places where there is no other way. Times when the greater good can only come from the horror of war. But those times are few and I doubt someone like Sledge could find many after seeing first hand what war does to both those who die and those who survive.
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