eb sledge with the old breed at peleliu and okinawa

The book was first published under its final title by the Presidio Press in 1981. The book's working title was A Marine Mortarman in World War II, which Sledge later changed to Into The Abyss. Nicknamed 'Sledgehammer' by his comrades, Sledge experienced combat during the battles of Peleliu and Okinawa as a 60 mm mortarman while part of K Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division ( K/3/5).

The book formed part of the basis of the material covered by Ken Burns' PBS documentary The War (2007), as well as the HBO miniseries The Pacific (2010), in which Sledge was portrayed by Joseph Mazzello.īy his own account, Sledge began writing the memoir in 1944, 'immediately after Peleliu while we were in rest camp on Pavuvu Island' and continued working on it 'as soon as I returned to civilian life' in 1946.

The memoir is based on notes Sledge kept tucked away in a pocket-sized Bible he carried with him during battles he fought at Peleliu and Okinawa. With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa is a World War II memoir by United States Marine Eugene Sledge, first published in 1981.

JSTOR ( November 2020) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).

Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.įind sources: 'With the Old Breed' – news Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Here, too, is the story of how he learned to hate and kill–and came to love–his fellow man.This article needs additional citations for verification. Here is what saved, threatened, and changed his life.

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.īased 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.

Sledge became part of the war’s famous 1st Marine Division–3d Battalion, 5th Marines. Sledge’s acclaimed first-person account of fighting at Peleliu and Okinawa returns to thrill, edify, and inspire a new generation.Īn Alabama boy steeped in American history and enamored of such heroes as George Washington and Daniel Boone, Eugene B. Studs Terkel interviewed the author for his definitive oral history, 'The Good War'. In 'The Wall Street Journal', Victor Davis Hanson named 'With the Old Breed' one of the top five books on epic twentieth-century battles.

Eb sledge with the old breed at peleliu and okinawa