With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa

by Eugene B. Sledge

Your soul may belong to Jesus, but your ass belongs to the Marines.

What a waste, I thought. War is such self-defeating, organized madness the way it destroys a nation’s best.

Courage meant overcoming fear and doing one’s duty in the presence of danger, not being unafraid.

Suddenly, I heard a loud voice say clearly and distinctly, “You will survive the war!” I looked first at Hillbilly and then at the sergeant. Each returned my glance with a quizzical expression on his face in the gathering darkness. Obviously they hadn’t said anything. “Did y’all hear that?” I asked. “Hear what?” they both inquired. “Someone said something,” I said. “I didn’t hear anything. How about you?” said Hillbilly, turning to the sergeant.

I believed God spoke to me that night on that Peleliu battlefield, and I resolved to make my life amount to something after the war.