With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa

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Summary: What every American needs to know
Review: I write this review from two separate perspectives. As a graduate of West Point, our training with regard to wars and individual battles focused on the larger picture and never quite got into the nitty gritty of battle such as Prof. Sledge's book does except to state that this or that battle was especially brutal. From Prof. Sledge's words, you can hear the artillery and mortars and bullets above and around you, you can smell the rotting remains of friends and enemy alike, you can see the incredibly horrid conditions these boys who became men in a short period of time withstood and you can feel the fear of the Marine as he waited for his orders to attack or waited to repulse the next enemy infiltrator in the night. Incredible imagery. This book should be read by all young men and women who wish to be in our military, especially those in our service academies and ROTC and OCS programs who will lead these soldiers and Marines into battle, for all wars will be won on the ground by the individual. As a son of one of the men of K/3/5 on Peleliu and Okinawa, I'm in awe of what my father experienced and accomplished and lived thru and of what all men of similar combat experience have done. Nick Kasun never talked much about the brutality he endured and now I know why. It would have been too painful for him to verbalize and relive. This book is a must read for all who really want to know what our guys did for our country in combat from someone who lived it for two of the most brutal battles of the South Pacific. TV and the movies can't give you true combat conditions for one reason: not many would be able to hold down their popcorn or snacks after seeing the true version. I applaud and honor Professor Sledge and the men of K/3/5.

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Summary: WITH THE OLD BREED;AT PELELIU& OKINAWA
Review: THE MOST FACTIAL DISCRIPTION OF THE BATTLE FOR OKINAWA WRITTEN IN MARINE LANGUAGE LESS THEIR COLORFUL SPEECH.

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Summary: excellent book
Review: I too had to read this book for a WWII class in college. All I have to say is that this is one of the best books I have ever read. Sledge is simple, honest and sincere in telling his story about the adventures, the horrors, and the triumphs of the war in the Pacific. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in an account of the War through the eyes of an enlisted mortar man in the Pacific. In a word: unforgettable!

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Summary: With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa
Review: Absolutely AWESOME!

This book was required reading in a WWII history class I took one semester in college. Not being much for dry, antiseptic history books, I grudgingly began reading it and my mind was blown.

This is no boring, third person, tactical/political analasys. This is a personal account of Hell, told by someone who lived through it. I simply couldn't put it down.

Definitely a must-read for anyone even remotely interested in WWII and the human experience with war.

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Summary: truly haunting
Review: This book should be read by every american who has lived during and after WWII. After reading E.B. Sleges account of combat, I now realize it is a crime that there is no national WWII memorial to thank veterans for their sacrifice.This is the most honest and easy to understand personal account of combat I have ever read.I feel that I will never again read a "war" book that can move me as much as this one.If you have read this book and another that has moved you like "With the old breed," Please, send me the title at [e-mail].

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Summary: The best account of Hell on Earth...
Review: E.B. Sledge has written a first hand account of the island hopping campaign against Japan with the flair of a historian and the brutal reality of one who was there. This theater differed so much from the battle against Germany, and Sledge does a wonderful job of relating the hellish aspects of these battles, while showing the day to day operations of Marines against not only a fierce and deadly-cunning enemy, but also how the tropics, with it's intense heat, disease and lack of cover contributed considerable casualties themselves. This book graphically recalls the almost inhumane suffering of the Marines against a completely committed and suicidal enemy, and the enormous sacrifices these men had to make, without ever once straying into a patriotic and flag waving history lesson. His descriptions are vivid and unforgettable, such as when he trudged up a hill and saw what remained of a dead Japanese machine-gunner. "He sat bolt upright in the firing position behind the breech of his machine gun. Even in death his eyes stared widely along the gun sights. Despite the vacant look of his dilated pupils, I couldn't believe he was dead. Cold chills ran along my spine. Gooseflesh tickled my back. It seemed as though he was looking through me to all eternity, that at any instant he would raise his hands, which rested in a relaxed manner on his thighs, grip the handles on the breech, and press the thumb trigger. But he would rot, and the brass slugs would corrode. Neither he nor his ammo could do any more for the emporer." This is but one of many excellent descriptions of battlefield hell. Maggot covered corpses bloating in the sun, hand to hand fighting with special night infiltration squads, even a column of soldiers who charge at port arms across 300 yards of open field in a suicidal display of bravery, it's all here. This book will not disappoint.

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Summary: This book on combat ranks in the very highest tier.
Review: This account by E.B. Sledge, a Marine PFC who landed on Peleliu andOkinawa, details the violence and brutality of these two battles sorealistically that it is a disturbing and haunting book. Peleliu wassupposed to last 3 to 4 days, but went on for 2 months and cost theMarines 1,262 dead and 5,274 wounded. The statistics from Okinawacontain a action, and 26,221 neuropsychiatric "non-battlecasualties." At Peleliu, Sledge "had tasted the bitterestessence of war, the sight of helpless comrades being slaughtered, andit filled me with disgust." Peleliu was a jagged coral islandwhich caused cuts and tears on contact with human flesh, and there wasa lot of such contact. "It was almost impossible to dig aprotective foxhole in the rock." Once inland one's senses wereoverwhelmed by the sight and smell of corpses filled with maggots,human excrement on top of coral everywhere, dysentery, rottingAmerican and Japanese rations, huge flies, knee deep mud, rainstorms,tropical oven heat, snapping bullets, and exploding shells. More thanonce Sledge saw a Marine slide down a ridge into rotting Japanesecorpses to find himself covered with maggots and vomiting from thesmell. Peleliu was an "assault into hell;" the landscape"hell's own cesspool." After the landing, with Marinessuffering from heat prostration, even the water came from hell --itcame in old oil drums, and the oil residue caused the troops to retchin the broiling sun. When Sledge sees his comrades cutting gold teethfrom the Japanese--some while they are still alive--he is disgustedand sickened. But war, Sledge notes, made savages of them all, andone day Sledge finds himself bending over a Japanese corpse with aknife to cut out gold teeth. A corpsman tries to dissuade him, firstwith one argument and then another, finally succeeding by pointing outthe threat from germs involved. Relentlessly, Sledge and his comradesmove steadily forward, forward into the "meat grinder,"losing more and more men to injury and death, the grim"inevitable harvest." The sight of dead Marines who had beentortured and mutilated by the Japanese hardens Sledge and his comradesagainst the enemy. Sledge tells of the terror of walking across anopen field facing Japanese machine gun fire while at the same timereceiving friendly fire from the rear from a Marine tank. But therewas something "Artillery is hell," and of all the terrors,"the terror and desperation endured under heavy shelling are byfar the most unbearable." Sledge learned to steer clear of anyand all second lieutenants, who invariably did not know what they weredoing and were highly dangerous to the troops. Sledge made twoamphibious landings on Peleliu and one on Okinawa. The rulerecognized among the troops was that if you made more than twolandings you had used up your luck. Even so, Sledge was one of lessthan 10 in his company of 235 men to escape alive andunwounded--thereby beating the "mathematics of death."("Statistically," Sledge tells us, "the infantry unitshad suffered l50 per cent casualties in the two campaigns.")Dr. Sledge, who is now a college biology professor, writes: "Waris brutish, inglorious and a terrible waste. Combat leaves anindelible mark on those who are forced to endure it. The onlyredeeming factors were my comrades' incredible bravery and theirdevotion to each other." From Sledge's viewpoint, Peleliu andOkinawa were very close battles. His experience showed him that thesuccess of the Marines was grounded on their discipline, esprit decorps, tough training, the ability to depend on one's comrades, andboot camp, which developed an expectation to excel, even understress. Of all the books on combat, this ranks in the very highesttier. Reading it is an experience--a new and terrible experience--ofwhat Marine infantrymen went through during and after an amphibiouslanding in the Pacific in World War II. Without Marines likeDr. Sledge, who put their arms and legs and lives on the line in thesesavage battles, history would have taken a far different course. I,for one, am profoundly grateful for what he and his comrades did, andwant to thank him for what he endured. We owe him and his comradesmore than we realize.

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Summary: Excellent
Review: With so many other reviews, I'll just make this short. This is an excellent book by Sledge. It tells the true horrors Marines in the Pacific saw and the fear they felt in plain, blunt terms. This is one of the best memoirs written by anyone about any war and I would recommend it to anyone, not just people who enjoy history.

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Summary: Thank you, Marine
Review: E.B. Sledge tells what it's like to fight, day after day, not knowing if you'll be wounded, maimed, killed at any moment, just going on and doing the worst job in the world -- because it has to be done, because your country needs you. I second the notion that this should be required reading in every high school, to let our youth know how evil war can be -- and how sometimes it's necessary.

I've never had to experience anything like the horrors Sledge and his comrades endured. My thanks to and prayers for the veterans of the most terrible war in history. You will not be forgotten.

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Summary: One of the classic books on the military experience
Review: This book is not to be missed. This is one of the few works that approach Guy Sajer's magnificent work FORGOTTEN SOLDIER. Anton Myrer's ONCE AN EAGLE comes close. As an exMarine myself, this book redefines the notion of glorious combat. Mr. Sledge's obvious intelligence shows how necessary a military draft is to having a force truly representing the people. Read also Michael Herr's DISPATCHES.