With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa

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With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa

by Eugene B. Sledge, Paul Fussell (Introduction)

4.39 of 5 stars 4.39 · rating details · 6,819 ratings · 647 reviews

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...more 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.

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Paperback, 326 pages

Published October 25th 1990 by Oxford University Press, USA (first published 1981)

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May 10, 2012 Steve aka Sckenda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: war, memoir, world-war-ii, pacific, courage, death

“You smug-faced crowds with kindling eyes/ who cheer when soldier lads march by/ sneak home and pray you’ll never know/ the hell where youth and laughter go.” – Siegfried Sassoon (Suicide in Trenches)

“With the Old Breed,” a memoir about the combat experience of a young WWII marine, is not for the faint of heart. It is not for those who want to be shielded from unpleasant truths about human nature and about themselves. Do any of us really know how we would act once the patina of civilization disa...more

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Nov 16, 2008 J. rated it 5 of 5 stars

With the Old Breed should be required reading in our classrooms, for this is the brutal reality of war at its most horrific. No sensationalism here; E. B. Sledge merely tells it the way it was. There is no glory in war, in the shedding of another man's blood; in digging a foxhole in a torrential downpour only to uncover the badly decomposing body of a Japanese soldier crawling with maggots; in watching helplessly as four of your comrades retrieve, on a stretcher, a wounded Marine amid machinegun...more With the Old Breed should be required reading in our classrooms, for this is the brutal reality of war at its most horrific. No sensationalism here; E. B. Sledge merely tells it the way it was. There is no glory in war, in the shedding of another man's blood; in digging a foxhole in a torrential downpour only to uncover the badly decomposing body of a Japanese soldier crawling with maggots; in watching helplessly as four of your comrades retrieve, on a stretcher, a wounded Marine amid machinegun fire ("If it were me out there," Sledge recounts, "I would want to know I wouldn't be left behind."); in enduring a night while being shelled by enemy artillery; in stumbling upon fellow Marines that have been tortured, decapitated and butchered in the worst way imaginable; in suffering sleep deprivation, from malaria and jungle rot, and from hunger, thirst, and, alternately, heat and cold. This is why war should be avoided at all costs, and this is why no one man should ever be given the authority, with a flourish of his signature, to risk the lives of young men and women.

My dad fought on Okinawa, receiving a citation from the office of the president for his participation in the taking of Shuri Ridge. I never knew my dad as a Marine, as he retired from the Corps before getting married and starting a family. I asked him once, when I was a boy, to tell me about his service, but he refused. I asked him again, about six and a half years ago, during the final year of his life, and he again refused. I had hoped that by sharing his pain a healing could take place. Unfortunately, what he saw, what he endured, died with him.

Sledge, in this memoir of his service on Peleliu and Okinawa, told me everything my dad withheld from me. This incredible account, told with frank detachment, is hailed as the best World War II memoir of an enlisted man, and with good reason. Part adventure, part history, "Sledgehammer" not only relates many of the clichés every Hollywood movie depicted on the subject, but also everything they left out.

Thanks, Sledgehammer, for sharing your story, and my dad's, with me. He perhaps felt I couldn't understand what he endured. Perhaps no civilian can. Yet after having read With the Old Breed, I understand a little better why he was the way he was.

Your generation is truly the greatest generation. (less)

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Feb 26, 2013 Patrick McCoy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography-autobiography, history

E.B. Sledge's account of his tour of duty with the 5th Marines in WWII, With The Old Breed is the second account of the Pacific theater that I have read. It is also one of the primary source materials for HBO's compelling miniseries The Pacific. Sledge's account is full of colorful accounts of his experience of WWII, much like John Leckie's book (another primary source for The Pacific) Helmet For My Pillow. I think what sets Sledge's account apart from others like it are his honest and thoughtfu...more

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Mar 25, 2009 Lee rated it 5 of 5 stars

Firsthand account of a Marine in the Pacific during World War II, Sledge's book is devastatingly unflinching in its examination of close quarters combat against a fearless and dedicated enemy. What did I learn from this book? Using nuclear weapons on Japan was not wrong but overdue.

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Jun 24, 2012 Gloria rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you'll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.
~Sigrfried Sassoon

William Tecumseh Sherman said it. "War is hell."
As a veteran of the Mexican War and the Civil War, he should know.

What is it about war which makes us glorify it?
Little boys tear around with swords and guns fighting off imaginary enemies.
Larger boys now sit glued before gaming devices doing essentially the same thing, complete wi...more

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Aug 09, 2012 Thomas rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: military-war

With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa is a book that was written by Eugene B. Sledge. It is a personal memoir of his time serving in the marines during WWII especially the battles of Peleliu and Okinawa. It has a distinct feel because it was written by an infantryman that was often on the front line in battles. Despite this is has been compared to Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose because it like Band of Brothers it was the inspiration for a HBO mini-series called The Pacific. This is...more With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa is a book that was written by Eugene B. Sledge. It is a personal memoir of his time serving in the marines during WWII especially the battles of Peleliu and Okinawa. It has a distinct feel because it was written by an infantryman that was often on the front line in battles. Despite this is has been compared to Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose because it like Band of Brothers it was the inspiration for a HBO mini-series called The Pacific. This is a book that does a great job of informing the reader about exactly went on during the war. It does not glorify or romanticize war, but instead basically reiterates that war is one of the closest things to hell on earth. Throughout the book Sledge focuses in on how the Americans viewed the Japanese and how the Japanese viewed the Americans. He shows that it would be accurate to call the war between the US and Japan as a “race war” because both sides thought that the other was racially inferior. Also unlike the war against the Nazis, the war against Japan was a war of revenge. The United States especially wanted to get revenge for what the Japanese did at Pearl Harbor. This led to particularly violent and cruel fighting by both sides in which Sledge commented “This was a brutish, primitive hatred, as characteristic of the horror of war in the Pacific as the palm trees and the islands.” Sledge also made frequently noted about how the men would try to cope with living on the front lines. They would constantly be hot, thirsty, dirty, hungry, and worried that it was just a matter of before they were killed. To conclude, With the Old Breed: at Peleliu and Okinawa is a well written memoir of Eugene B. Sledge. It tells how the war in the Pacific was full of hatred and brutality on both sides. It focuses less on the big picture of the Pacific campaign but rather focuses mainly on the battles of Peleliu and Okinawa. Therefore, if one wants to know what the Pacific theater during WWII was really like, I would highly recommend With the Old Breed: at Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene B. Sledge.
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Jan 08, 2009 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a great memoir if you want to understand what it was like to fight in the Pacific in WWII. It affected me very much as my reading of Norman Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead did when I first read that. I could feel the pain—the dirt or worse yet on Peleliu the coral one couldn’t dig into—the bad food and dirty water, dirty and wet clothes, the fear. It’s painful to read though and if you won’t want to know the gory details faced by young men barely out of school and inexperienced with the...more This is a great memoir if you want to understand what it was like to fight in the Pacific in WWII. It affected me very much as my reading of Norman Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead did when I first read that. I could feel the pain—the dirt or worse yet on Peleliu the coral one couldn’t dig into—the bad food and dirty water, dirty and wet clothes, the fear. It’s painful to read though and if you won’t want to know the gory details faced by young men barely out of school and inexperienced with the world, then you don’t want to read this book.

I hate war, but I feel compelled to know what it’s like so I don’t take for granted what we ask young people to experience in war. Eugene Sledge (who became Sledgehammer to his buddies) had had one year of college when he joined up—as did most of his generation (few in fact staying to finish college which is one reason why we needed the GI Bill). He joined the Marines (the “old breed” of the title).

This book is different from other memoirs because of the detail. It’s not brilliantly written or “literary”. That’s its genius says Paul Fussell who reviewed it for a 1990 edition (Fussell has written about both WWI and WWII and was a soldier in the Pacific himself). Sledge explains how comradeship worked with soldiers to form lifelong bonds. He talks about officers they admired and those they hated and feared. He details the hardships and how hatred of the Japanese developed and hardened even the most sensitive among them. He explains how everything happened, from the human waste in foxholes they couldn’t leave, to stripping a Japanese corpse for souvenirs, to descriptions of wounds and dead Americans lying covered up on the battlefield until they could be retrieved, to water that was dirty because those in the rear had put it in insufficiently cleaned oil drums, to how the mortar he used worked and the problems placing it in the muddy ground of Okinawa. He explains how everyone was afraid and how some handled it differently from others. He explains how Japanese soldiers who spoke English tried to move in on their foxholes at night and how occasionally a buddy was mistakenly shot for an enemy.

Sledge never romanticizes war. The only good was the friendship and interdependency men developed, but he doesn’t romanticize that either.

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May 13, 2013 Leon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

NEW YORK TIMESBESTSELLER

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 definitiv

...more

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

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—3rd 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.

“In all the literature on the Second World War, there is not a more honest, realistic or moving memoir than Eugene Sledge’s. This is the real deal, the real war: unvarnished, brutal, without a shred of sentimentality or false patriotism, a profound primer on what it actually was like to be in that war. It is a classic that will outlive all the armchair generals’ safe accounts of—not the ‘good war’—but the worst war ever.”—Ken Burns

Review

“Eugene Sledge became more than a legend with his memoir, With The Old Breed. He became a chronicler, a historian, a storyteller who turns the extremes of the war in the Pacific—the terror, the camaraderie, the banal and the extraordinary—into terms we mortals can grasp.”—Tom Hanks

“In all the literature on the Second World War, there is not a more honest, realistic or moving memoir than Eugene Sledge’s. This is the real deal, the real war: unvarnished, brutal, without a shred of sentimentality or false patriotism, a profound primer on what it actually was like to be in that war. It is a classic that will outlive all the armchair generals’ safe accounts of—not the ‘good war’—but the worst war ever.”—Ken Burns

About the Author

E. B. “Sledgehammer” Sledge was born and grew up in Mobile. In late 1943 he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. After basic training, he was sent to the Pacific Theater where he fought at Peleliu and Okinawa, two of the fiercest battles of World War II. Following the Japanese surrender, Sledge served in China as part of the occupation force. Upon his return home, he obtained a Ph.D. in biology and joined the faculty of Alabama College (later the University of Montevallo), where he taught until retirement. Sledge initially wrote about his war experiences to explain them to his family, but he was persuaded by his wife to seek publication. Sledge died on March 3, 2001.

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Apr 30, 2013 Billy Fudale added it

The book I read was With the Old Breed by author E.B. Sledge. This book was really one of my favorites in that I am a big history fan of WW2. For me personally it was good timing while studying the WW2 unit in our class in that I could learn about specific details of the pacific war rather than generalizations which is all interesting to me. E.B sledge tells his story from evolving from a rich southern slightly physically disabled young boy into to enlisting into the marines and fighting in the...more

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Apr 14, 2013 Tom Hitzeman rated it 5 of 5 stars

WITH THE OLD BREED at Peleliu and Okinawa by E.B. Sledge – A Book Review

I was unaware of this story until the book reappeared on bookstore shelves following release of the HBO miniseries “The Pacific.” After reading several reviews of the book acclaiming it as the possibly the best WWII memoir ever written, I figured I had to read it, and I was not disappointed.

Previously, my list of top infantry warfare books included WWII classics such as Guy Sajer’s “Forgotten Soldier” (Wehrmacht Eastern Fron...more WITH THE OLD BREED at Peleliu and Okinawa by E.B. Sledge – A Book Review

I was unaware of this story until the book reappeared on bookstore shelves following release of the HBO miniseries “The Pacific.” After reading several reviews of the book acclaiming it as the possibly the best WWII memoir ever written, I figured I had to read it, and I was not disappointed.

Previously, my list of top infantry warfare books included WWII classics such as Guy Sajer’s “Forgotten Soldier” (Wehrmacht Eastern Front), Charles McDonald’s “Company Commander”, and Raymond Gantter’s “Roll Me Over” (US Army ETO Western Front including the Bulge), William Manchester’s “Goodbye Darkness” (USMC, Pacific Theater), and the classic of the war in Iraq that is David Bellavia’s “House to House” (Battle of Fallujah, Iraq). All of these books describe in graphic and very personal detail the terror, fear, inhumanity, resignation, hopelessness, revulsion, and all around suffering, as well as the incredible feats of courage, bravery, human will, and intensely close brotherhood of the doggies in the foxholes, the cannon fodder known as infantry.

There were many meat grinder campaigns and battles in WWII and, indeed, in all wars. As I worked my way though THE OLD BREED, I was about to settle on Okinawa (and the other USMC Pacific battles on Guadalcanal, Peleliu, and Iwo Jima, based upon this and previous reading) as the absolute worst combat in history. But then I came upon this passage by Sledge, mired in the mud and gore on Okinawa: “This was my first taste of mud in combat, and it was more detestable than I had ever imagined…mud on the battlefield was misery beyond description…The air was chilly and clammy, but I thanked God we weren’t experiencing this misery in Europe where the foxholes were biting cold as well as wet.” And my thoughts went right back to McDonald’s and Gantter’s accounts of freezing during the carnage of The Bulge. Conclusion? All war is utter hell on earth, period.

Eugene Sledge’s story has now earned a permanent place in my top picks in this category of personal accounts of warfare. Through his quite unemotional, but very descriptive, honest, and gripping description of his experiences, Sledge has written an account of warfare that, for the first time, almost provided the actual sense of the detestable smell of gruesome battlefields. If there is any thought in the mind of any reader that there is glory in war, this book should end that illusion once and for all.

The combat portions of the story are divided into Part 1, Peleliu: A Neglected Battle and Part 2 Okinawa: The Final Triumph. I freely admit that due to Sledge’s honest and very descriptive writing, I was in tears at the conclusion of each section. Those of us, including we who have served in the armed forces, who have never seen this type of very personal combat, have no idea what those who have bear on their souls. I give thanks to God for the sacrifice made by all of these men and the gift of liberty and freedom they won at the cost of body, mind, and heart.

Eugene Sledge left the Marine Corps as a Corporal in 1946. He passed away at age 77 in 2001. But, in the final paragraphs of THE OLD BREED, he leaves us with the lesson he wants us all to learn from his story –

“War is brutish, inglorious, and a terrible waste. Combat leaves an indelible mark on those who are forced to endure it. The only redeeming factors were my comrades’ incredible bravery and their devotion to each other. Marine Corps training taught us to kill efficiently and to try to survive. But it also taught us loyalty to each other – and love. That spirit de corps sustained us.

Until the millennium arrives and countries cease trying to enslave others, it will be necessary to accept one’s responsibilities and to be willing to make sacrifices for one’s country – as my comrades did. As the troops used to say, “If the country is good enough to live in, it’s good enough to fight for” With privilege goes responsibility.”(less)

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Dec 16, 2012 Charlie Luniak rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Charlie Luniak
“Of all the books about the ground war in the Pacific, this is the closest to masterpiece”-The New York Times Review of Books. With The Old Breed by Eugene B Sledge is about Sledge’s experience in the Pacific fighting the Japanese. He took notes in a copy of the New Testament. In the beginning Eugene talked about getting into the U.S. Marine Corps. Then he talked about going through basic training and infantry training from which he could chose the part of infantry he wanted join w...more Charlie Luniak
“Of all the books about the ground war in the Pacific, this is the closest to masterpiece”-The New York Times Review of Books. With The Old Breed by Eugene B Sledge is about Sledge’s experience in the Pacific fighting the Japanese. He took notes in a copy of the New Testament. In the beginning Eugene talked about getting into the U.S. Marine Corps. Then he talked about going through basic training and infantry training from which he could chose the part of infantry he wanted join which was 60mm. mortars. Sledge then talked about being shipped to Pavuvu which was an island in the Pacific were the 1st Marine Division was stationed. While on Pavuvu Sledge and his platoon would go on work details which involved making roads to picking up rotten coconuts. Sledge’s first taste of combat was on a lobster claw shaped corral island called Peleliu. Sledge said from the time he landed on the island to the time he left it was hell. During the day you watch out for bullets and artillery, and during the you had to look out for Japanese infiltrators trying to slit your throat. After Peleliu Sledge and the rest of the 1st Marine Division were shipped off to fight on the island of Okinawa. Unlike Peleliu, when the Marines landed on Okinawa the Japanese were not shelling and shooting at the Marines. As they moved inland the fighting become more and more intense. It also started to pouring rain almost every day. Sledge said that the dead stayed were they were killed, supplies had a hard time getting through and the wounded couldn’t always be taken to the field hospitals right away because of all the mud. After they took the Japanese stronghold of Shuri the fighting got easier but there were still causalties. Shortly after the battle of Okinawa ended. Things that I really liked about this book was the great detail Sledge went into. For example when they were issued their Ka-Bar fighting knives he went into detail about the weight, lengths and things the Drill Instructors said they were used for. I also liked how it was told, I thought it was easy to read and easy to understand. There were notes at the bottom of pages were there things that had a star next to them which I liked because it gave you background knowledge on the battle or other things that you should know. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a good World War II book. The characters were guys in Sledge’s mortar squad. His best friend was Merriel “Snafu” Shelton. Snafu taught Sledge some things that probably kept him alive. Another big character was his platoon’s Captian, Andy “Ack Ack” Haldane. Sledge and the rest of the platoon liked Haldane a lot because he was like a father figure to them. Sledge said the worst thing that happen to him in the war was when Haldane was killed on Peleliu. Eugene Sledge was the main character because the book was based he took. With the Old Breed was used for notes in the making of The Pacific which is a 10 part series that follows Sledge and two other Marines through the terrors of the war in the Pacific during World War II.

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Sep 20, 2012 Abbe added it · review of another edition

Shelves: in-library

Review

"Eugene Sledge became more than a legend with his memoir, With The Old Breed. He became a chronicler, a historian, a storyteller who turns the extremes of the war in the Pacific —the terror, the camaraderie, the banal and the extraordinary—into terms we mortals can grasp."—Tom Hanks

...more Review

“In all the literature on the Second World War, there is not a more honest, realistic or moving memoir than Eugene Sledge's. This is the real deal, the real war: unvarnished, brutal, without a shred of sentimentality or false patriotism, a profound primer on what it actually was like to be in that war. It is a classic that will outlive all the armchair generals' safe accounts of—not the "good war"—but the worst war ever.”—Ken Burns

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Product Description

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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Aug 11, 2012 Nicole Green rated it 5 of 5 stars

Again, this is a book I had to read for my class on WWII here at school and I absolutely fell in love with it. I'm a sucker for well written account of battles during World War II and life in the military. The detail that Sledge goes into is incredible. He remembers every single detail and the description is so vivid that I actually believe I am there on Pavuvu, Peleliu, and Okinawa. I can really see, after reading this book, why HBO picked it up and made it into a miniseries, just like Band of...more

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Jul 26, 2012 Andrew rated it 5 of 5 stars

As a young man, Eugene Sledge joined the US Marines "to do his bit" in World War II and because of his choice of the Marine Corps, he was sent to fight in the Pacific War against the Japanese. "With the Old Breed" describes his experiences in two of the nastier campaigns in that theatre, Pelelieu and Okinawa. There was nothing civilized about the Pacific war. Lives were thrown away on both sides for possession of tiny islands with a reckless abandon that matches the waste of the Great War. It wa...more

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May 19, 2012 Campbell Mcaulay rated it 4 of 5 stars

As a young man, Eugene Sledge joined the US Marines "to do his bit" in World War 2 and because of his choice of arm, he was sent to fight in the Pacific War against the mighty and tenacious Imperial Japanese Army. "With the Old Breed" describes his experiences in two of the nastier campaigns in that theatre, Pelelieu and Okinawa (and was one of the references for the HBO mini-series "The Pacific").We are perhaps more used to hearing of the European war, in which the combatants treated each other...more As a young man, Eugene Sledge joined the US Marines "to do his bit" in World War 2 and because of his choice of arm, he was sent to fight in the Pacific War against the mighty and tenacious Imperial Japanese Army. "With the Old Breed" describes his experiences in two of the nastier campaigns in that theatre, Pelelieu and Okinawa (and was one of the references for the HBO mini-series "The Pacific").We are perhaps more used to hearing of the European war, in which the combatants treated each other (for the most part) with a good deal of respect, even chivalry. Admittedly the truth may differ somewhat and the non-combatants were dealt with with rather less regard, but we generally consider the European war to have been a "civilised war". There was nothing civilised about the Pacific war. Lives were thrown away on both sides for posession of tiny coral atolls with a reckless abandon that matches the waste of the Great War. It was fought with a savagery and hate that beggars belief and Sledge pulls no punches in describing the horror; witness the scene is where a fellow marine removes the gold teeth of an injured Japanese soldier. This is not a comfortable book to read.

Neither is this a military history. There are notes at the end of each chapter that add a little context, but Sledge wrote the account from the point of view of a private soldier, working from a battle diary that he kept in his pocket bible. He had little or no idea of the big picture and in most cases he had no idea of what was going on, full stop. His perspective comes from over the sights of his carbine; all he can see is the wall of his dugout, the bodies of friends and foe scattered around him. All he can hear is the rattle of rifle fire, the screech and crash of artillery and the screams of the dying. Sledge fully understood his position in all of this - as cannon fodder and no more - but he also understood the horror and waste of what was happening around him and he conveys the brutality and futility very well indeed.

Reading some reviews, however, you will see him described as a great writer, even to the extent that he is compared with Robert Graves. I have not read Graves but I am certainly not convinced that "With the Old Breed" counts as great writing. I don't want to dwell on the point, but the prose is awkward, unpolished, even clumsy in places. It was clearly not written by a professional, or even particularly experienced writer. Does this detract from the story? No, not at all* (or at least, not much), but unfulfilled expectations of literature do detract. However, these shortcomings do lend the story a certain honesty that you won't find in Dispatches (a book that I have come to detest for its smug self-importance), a naiivety that you wont find in All Quiet on the Western Front and it is, perhaps, better for it.

Despite this lack of eloquence, Sledge successfully conveys the filth and stench of a tropical combat zone and the fear and fatigue of a battle where it was understood by all that the victor was (almost literally) the last man left alive. This is an eye-opening, gut-churning and deeply humbling account and it is well worth a read.

* Perhaps, when we remember wars, we should take off our clothes and paint ourselves blue and go on all fours all day long and grunt like pigs. That would surely be more appropriate than noble oratory... Kurt Vonnegut(less)

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Feb 03, 2012 Jeff rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've read a few personal accounts of battles from different wars, but E. B. "Sledgehammer" Sledge's account of his experiences on Peleliu and Okinawa was one of my favorites. Originally written just for his family, Sledge's story is told with a brutal honesty that gives the reader a real sense of seeing the carnage of war through the eyes of a patriotic and duty-bound, yet initially naive, young soldier. As I read, I felt that the author's recounting was an effort to help his family understand a...more

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Nov 07, 2011 John Nevola rated it 5 of 5 stars

This classic is the definitive work on the war in the Pacific and the culture of the United States Marines in World War II.

Sledge gives a deeply human account of warfare as seen by the grunt on the front lines of battle. From the oppressive tropical heat and thirst of Peleliu to the cold, wet, slimy mud of Okinawa, Sledge takes the reader on a journey with the First Marine Division – The Old Breed - through the depths of depravity and the unspeakable horrors of war as fought by rules establishe...more

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Oct 17, 2011 Christopher rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography

Until this book, I had not read any personal accounts of war other than Pres. Theodore Roosevelt's account of his charge up San Juan Hill. But this books shows the true face of war as only an average grunt stuck living every day in the trenches can tell it. There are very few boisterous adjectives or adverbs in this work. Instead, the narrative tells about the war with little passion (in a glorious or vain sense), which makes it all the more remarkable and all the more real. You almost feel as i...more

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Sep 10, 2011 Peter rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biogrpahy, military, history

WOW. What a memoir! Sledge was a well educated young man during WWII. Instead of joining the Marines as an officer he joined as a private and remained as such during his service, rising to the rank of corporal. He wrote his memoir after his retirement as a college professor of biology (PhD). It is a well written book, tough and straight forward. He talks of the fear, death, dirt, damage of combat. Damage to the body and soul. He was involved in two campaigns, not battles, in other words, actions...more

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Sep 06, 2011 Eric rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, war, bio

With the Old Breed, by Eugene Sledge, is the first book I've read since joining Goodreads that made me wish I could give a book a six star rating. A memoir of Sledge's World War II service with the United States Marine Corps in the Pacific, With the Old Breed is widely viewed as one of the best first-hand accounts of the Pacific War and was one of two books that formed the basis for the HBO miniseries The Pacific.

And no wonder. Published only in 1981, With the Old Breed is clearly a labour of lo...more

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Jun 25, 2011 Holly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: soldiers

Brutal, raw, and honest. This is a guy with an eye for horrifying details, the little things I found a surprise to read. I like to understand people and this leaves the door right open for me to walk inside a WW2 Pacific grunt's experience and feelings. There were more than a few scenes leaving a strong impression on me...more like a few horrifying images I cannot forget. He talks about battle fatigue..walking that line between "cracking up" and maintaining, it was fascinating. He also wrote som...more

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Apr 26, 2011 Gage Mcnally rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

With the old breed by Eugene B. Sledge is about his experience in world war two.Eugene chose to join the Marines because he thought it would be heroic and he wanted to do it for his country but when he got off the boat at Peleliu it was different,everything he learned had to be put to the test and now everything that the higher ranks told him came into perspective.He now had two objectives;to complete his mission and to survive.No matter where he went he did not feel safe and he could have been...more

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Feb 04, 2011 Janet rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, memoirs

Prompted to read With the Old Breed by watching HBO's The Pacific, I was unprepared for Sledge's unflinching, simple honesty in reporting and processing his WWII experiences as a Marine infantryman. Sledge discusses not only the battles of Peleliu and Okinawa, but the transition from being a sensitive, young man to becoming a hardened, battle-weary veteran. His descriptions provide insight into these battles, and war in general, that have so far escaped more graphic, visual mediums--including Th...more

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Jan 23, 2011 karl rated it 4 of 5 stars

Steve Raymond recently wrote a good Goodreads review with a grade of 4 on this book. Having just finished Unbroken (current best seller about a US POW in Japan in WWII), I was excited to read Steve’s book. It did not let me down. It also is an autobiography. The author was a marine who fought on the front line in two major battles (2nd Okinawa) in the Pacific in 1944 and 1945. About 10% of his original unit of about 250 survived w/o a major injury. I concur that his overall message to readers es...more

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Dec 31, 2010 Peter N. rated it 5 of 5 stars

A great read. Straight forward, not overly sentimental or harsh. Just a man who survived two of the worst battles in the Pacific telling us what happened. As I read it two things struck me. First, the invasion of Japan would have been the most costly battle in the history of mankind. There are problems with dropping the atomic bomb. After Nagasaki and Hiroshima the world was never the same. And as a Christian I am adamantly opposed to civilian deaths. But reading this book one begins to realize...more

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Nov 17, 2010 Max rated it 5 of 5 stars

Combine this with "Helmet for my Pillow" and you have two very good perspectives on WWII. Sledge picks up in the war almost at the point where Leckie is knocked out of the war -- on Peleliu. As Sledge mentions his awe at seeing the veterans on Pavuvu (basically an island base), Leckie has also described the new recruits coming on at the same time.

For everything that Leckie glossed over about the horrors of war, Sledge provides minute details. Reading this book, you can only begin to fathom the h...more

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Aug 19, 2010 Jacqueline Tao rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Boy, I'd pity any Jap that had all that shrapnel flying around him," murmured one of my more thoughtful buddies.
"Yeah, it'll tear their asses up all right. But don't forget they're gonna be throwing stuff at you as fast as they can," said the mortar sergeant.
This, I realized, was the difference between war and hunting. When I survived the former, I gave up the latter.
-E.B. Slege

Recently adapted into the HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers-The Pacific", this book tells the war from the perspective...more "Boy, I'd pity any Jap that had all that shrapnel flying around him," murmured one of my more thoughtful buddies.
"Yeah, it'll tear their asses up all right. But don't forget they're gonna be throwing stuff at you as fast as they can," said the mortar sergeant.
This, I realized, was the difference between war and hunting. When I survived the former, I gave up the latter.
-E.B. Slege

Recently adapted into the HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers-The Pacific", this book tells the war from the perspective of an mortar-man private who fought in the Pacific during WWII. By this time victory in Europe had already been decided and the atom bombs had not yet been dropped. Desperate to win, both the Japanese and Americans, fought desperately amounting to huge losses on both sides. Most of the war in the East had taken place on small islands that the Japanese occupied which provided a completely different battleground than what those who fought in Europe experienced. Instead of bombed out cities with concrete and sidewalks or even farmhouses and pasture, the islands in the East were humid, hot, and full of hard coral. The US Marines, which the author, Eugene Sledge, had to reach the island by small boats which couldn't get over the coral, and the thousands of Marins had to wade through the water to get on the beach all the while dodging (at least attempting to) bullets from the Japanese that shot from the cliffs at the Marines like sitting ducks. And once the marines had actually made it onto the beach, they had to scramble across the beach and actually find the Japanese that were hidden in secret alcoves all through the island. During their search the Marines had to suffer through the hot humid rain that drenched them nearly everyday, cases of malaria that swept through the troops like wildfire, intolerable food, and not to mention the truly unique enemy that was the Japanese. For the Japanese would not surrender but would rather fight to their death.

This book tells the war from the eye of a private, Eugene Sledge. As the author of the book, he writes from a unique perspective, one without all the fancy diction but has the same worldy contemplations as any other literary author. He muses on life, the purpose of war, and the ordinary citizens of those who are swept up by the war. The innocent farmers, children, and even animals. I really like this book because it is told from the point of view of someone who had actually been there and written in his hand-using his style of diction. And it really makes me feel as if I had actually been there, experienced what he had, if only through words. (less)

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Jul 20, 2010 Raymond rated it 4 of 5 stars

One third of the 1st Marine Division - 6,500 men - became casualties in the battle (September-November, 1944) for the Pacific coral island of Peleliu. In addition, 3,000 casualties were incurred by the 81st Infantry Division, sent to relieve the Marines. Peleliu was among the most fierce and costly battles of World War II.

The thing incredible, the tragedy beyond belief, is that the island was judged of no strategic value by the day the invasion and the battle with the Japanese defenders began....more

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May 20, 2010 Kenny rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, non-fiction, history

The war in the Pacific is the unknown war . . . unknown, at least, to those Americans whose fathers and grandfathers did not fight in that war. My father did, and though I heard stories about the battles on tiny, coral, jungle covered islands, they were from a safe altitude in his B-24 bomber, with the hope (at least) of a hot shower and a good meal when they got back to base.

"With the Old Breed" is the other end of the spectrum: a Marine private's first-hand experience in some of the worst fig...more The war in the Pacific is the unknown war . . . unknown, at least, to those Americans whose fathers and grandfathers did not fight in that war. My father did, and though I heard stories about the battles on tiny, coral, jungle covered islands, they were from a safe altitude in his B-24 bomber, with the hope (at least) of a hot shower and a good meal when they got back to base.

"With the Old Breed" is the other end of the spectrum: a Marine private's first-hand experience in some of the worst fighting ever on the islands of Peleliu and Okinawa. E.B. Sledge's memoir refers to the "old" men of Marine corp tradition; Sledge considered himself a kid, and he was; sadly so when you factor in the horrifying scenes in which he was thrust, scenes apropos Dante's "Inferno," not a modern world. Scenes of depravity and hardship. Depravity occurred on both sides, but it's clear that the Americans would not have engaged in it had their Japanese foes not instigated the horrors first. Little excuse, but what this memoir says is that anyone is capable of anything, given the right conditions. And by "right," I mean unbearable weather, privations of food, shelter, and reason, incessant shelling and ammunition rounds flying overhead 24-7 for weeks on end.

In short, Sledge and his warrior-mates were subjected to the most brutal battle conditions ever seen and the fact that he emerged from the war with enough humanity left in him to write a thoughtful memoir and live a normal life is a testimony of two things: (1) the rightness of the American cause, which made their suffering bearable, and (2) the general goodness of man allowed men such as these to preserve their humanity amidst horror.

Unforgettable, hard to read, but absolutely necessary to begin to understand what that war was really like. The fanatacism of the Japanese, serving their god-emperor, was thought to be the last of its kind on earth: brutal, unfeeling, relentless, and ultimately deadly to all that nation's men. And yet after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when we thought that, perhaps, such blind hatred was expunged from the earth, we were wrong. Ahead of us lay 9-11 and another fanatical, death-loving culture and only America, it seems, left to battle it. I pray the lessons of "With the Old Breed" will be learned before our next 9-11. I fear they will not be.(less)

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Dec 30, 2008 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars

I recalled some of the eloquent phrases of politicians and newsmen about how "gallant" it is for a man to "shed his blood for his country" and "to give his life's blood as a sacrifice," and so on. The words seemed so ridiculous. Only the flies benefitted.

This is a fabulous book. It is about a marine serving in the Pacific during WWII. His description of the life of a marine in wartime is direct, brutal, and honest. You get a glimpse of what life was like in the foxholes, trying to kill and not b...more

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About Eugene B. Sledge

Eugene Bondurant Sledge (November 4, 1923 – March 3, 2001) was a United States Marine, university professor, and author. His 1981 memoir With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa chronicled his combat experiences during World War II and was subsequently used as source material for Ken Burns's PBS documentary, The War, as well as the HBO miniseries The Pacific, in which he is portrayed by Joseph M...more

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Books by Eugene B. Sledge

China Marine: An Infantryman's Life After World War II

I'm Staying with My Boys: The Heroic Life of Sgt. John Basilone, USMC / With the Old Breed / Helmet for My Pillow

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“Until the millennium arrives and countries cease trying to enslave others, it will be necessary to accept one's responsibilities and be willing to make sacrifices for one's country - as my comrades did. As the troops used to say, "If the country is good enough to live in, it's good enough to fight for." With privilege goes responsibility.” — 18 people liked it

“The Japanese fought to win - it was a savage, brutal, inhumane, exhausting and dirty business. Our commanders knew that if we were to win and survive, we must be trained realistically for it whether we liked it or not. In the post-war years, the U.S. Marine Corps came in for a great deal of undeserved criticism in my opinion, from well-meaning persons who did not comprehend the magnitude of stress and horror that combat can be. The technology that developed the rifle barrel, the machine gun and high explosive shells has turned war into prolonged, subhuman slaughter. Men must be trained realistically if they are to survive it without breaking, mentally and physically.” — 17 people liked it

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