With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa

With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa Review

Author E.B. Sledge has written a very compelling account of his experiences as a US Marine during the latter part of WW2. Recounting his time from Recruit training at the US Marine Corps Depot in San Diego and later when he is assigned to the 1st Marine Division and joins them at Pavuvu in the Russell islands group, the story traces his participation in the horrific battles on Peleliu and later Okinawa.

The embarkation and move to Peleliu involved travel in hot and uncomfortable troop ships and the author describes this life with a flair for detail and allows the reader to almost feel the discomfort first hand. He describes coming ashore on Peleliu as a form of hell on earth as the defenders met the invading marines at the water's edge. The loss of personnel as the battle progresses inland continues, as the final toll was some 8,769 personnel killed, wounded or missing, with the Japanese experiencing almost 11,000 casualties from the battle. After Peleliu, Sledge returned, with the survivors, to Pavuvu to recover and receive reinforcements before the invasion of Okinawa.

I was moved by this book, it is an accompaniment to books such as 'Helmet for My Pillow', by Robert Leckie. This book is the front-line experiences of hitting a beach, engaging in dreary work parties, such as the ones collecting rotting coconuts for disposal away from bivouac areas and also the constant discomfort of living and doing battle in the South Pacific. From burning sun to knee deep mud, plus dealing with various jungle animal nasties to a determined and well-entrenched enemy to whom surrender was not an option. As the story of Peleliu and later, Okinawa, unfold from the author's account, the reader experiences the transformation of a young man who has experienced the mounting savagery of close quarter combat. He describes struggling off an AMTRAC, to sitting in a hole in a dark jungle, with various unnerving night sounds from animals, to a knife-wielding enemy soldier who tries to infiltrate the defensive perimeter of the Marines. Then there are the conditions, they exact a terrible toll on personnel from infections to sickness. Sledge describes removing his socks one day to discover the socks also removing the skin on the soles of his feet and the putrid smell of his socks being so bad he simply buries them to get rid of the stench.

In summary, a well written account of one man's experiences in the Pacific during some of the most horrendous battles of the war. While many of these moments are filled with horror and destruction, they should also give a resolution that the world must move forward and not revert to the loss of life described in this book. This book was written from the perspective of a man who survived some of the most savage fighting in World War Two and is book from the front line. Well done, E.B. Sledge!

With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa Overview

In The Wall Street Journal, Victor Davis Hanson named With the Old Breed one of the top five books on epic twentieth-century battles. Studs Terkel interviewed the author for his definitive oral history, The Good War. Now E. B. Sledge’s acclaimed first-person account of fighting at Peleliu and Okinawa returns to thrill, edify, and inspire a new generation.

An Alabama boy steeped in American history and enamored of such heroes as George Washington and Daniel Boone, Eugene B. Sledge became part of the war’s famous 1st Marine Division–3d Battalion, 5th Marines. Even after intense training, he was shocked to be thrown into the battle of Peleliu, where “the world was a nightmare of flashes, explosions, and snapping bullets.” By the time Sledge hit the hell of Okinawa, he was a combat vet, still filled with fear but no longer with panic.

Based on notes Sledge secretly kept in a copy of the New Testament, With the Old Breed captures with utter simplicity and searing honesty the experience of a soldier in the fierce Pacific Theater. Here is what saved, threatened, and changed his life. Here, too, is the story of how he learned to hate and kill–and came to love–his fellow man.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

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