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With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa
 
 
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With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa [Hardcover]

E. B. Sledge (Author), Eugene B. Sledge (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (100 customer reviews)

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In his own book, Wartime, Paul Fussell called With the Old Breed "one of the finest memoirs to emerge from any war." John Keegan referred to it in The Second World War as "one of the most arresting documents in war literature." And Studs Terkel was so fascinated with the story he interviewed its author for his book, "The Good War." What has made E.B. Sledge's memoir of his experience fighting in the South Pacific during World War II so devastatingly powerful is its sheer honest simplicity and compassion. Now including a new introduction by Paul Fussell, With the Old Breed presents a stirring, personal account of the vitality and bravery of the Marines in the battles at Peleliu and Okinawa. Born in Mobile, Alabama in 1923 and raised on riding, hunting, fishing, and a respect for history and legendary heroes such as George Washington and Daniel Boone, Eugene Bondurant Sledge (later called "Sledgehammer" by his Marine Corps buddies) joined the Marines the year after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and from 1943 to 1946 endured the events recorded in this book. In those years, he passed, often painfully, from innocence to experience. Sledge enlisted out of patriotism, idealism, and youthful courage, but once he landed on the beach at Peleliu, it was purely a struggle for survival. Based on the notes he kept on slips of paper tucked secretly away in his New Testament, he simply and directly recalls those long months, mincing no words and sparing no pain. The reality of battle meant unbearable heat, deafening gunfire, unimaginable brutality and cruelty, the stench of death, and, above all, constant fear. Sledge still has nightmares about "the bloody, muddy month of May on Okinawa." But, as he also tellingly reveals, the bonds of friendship formed then will never be severed. Sledge's honesty and compassion for the other marines, even complete strangers, sets him apart as a memoirist of war. Read as sobering history or as high adventure, With the Old Breed is a moving chronicle of action and courage. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Ingram

Based on notes he kept on slips of paper tucked secretly away in his Bible, Eugene Sledge has written a devastingly powerful memoir of his experience fighting in the South Pacific during WWII. John Keegan describes this stirring account of the vitality and bravery of the Marines as "one of the most arresting documents in war literature." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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I enlisted in the Marine Corps on 3 December 1942 at Marion, Alabama. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars kaleidoscope of the unreal, April 8 2004
Ce commentaire est de: WITH THE OLD BREED: AT PELELIU AND OKINAWA. (Paperback)
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.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The most detailed and pogniont recounting of any war, Feb 18 2004
By 
Keith S Paulus (Toledo, OH United States) - See all my reviews
Ce commentaire est de: WITH THE OLD BREED: AT PELELIU AND OKINAWA. (Paperback)
This book takes war for all it is. War is brutal and Sledge does not hide any of it. He brings the war to you clearly and plainly. He is not an author, he is a writer simply writing about what he say, felt, and experienced. After reading this book there is no way you will not have a whole new appreciation for "The Big Red One" and all military units. This is the best book recounting WWII out there. It has a clarity and honesty that no reporter could get, this book is from a front line solider and shows what he saw. Absolutely superb.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Such an awesome book!, Dec 14 2010
Ce commentaire est de: With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa (Mass Market Paperback)
After reading a few other war memoir books I was prepared for a semi-interesting but overall dry account full of dates and names...but this book was different. E.B. Sledge writes so vividly you feel like you were his foxhole buddy. So many memories of little every day things that you never hear about in other books or movies. As soon as I finished it I wanted to read it again. This book really opened my eyes to the Pacific campaign as it doesn't seem to get as much attention as the European side. This book really makes you realize what war is like for the guys on the front line, the horror and the lasting effects its amazing...and heartbreaking. A must read.
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