"A damn good Marine": Eugene Sledge (aka Sledgehammer) remembered on Victory over Japan Day (2 September 1945)
I learned about Eugene Sledge from a fellow gun enthusiast who pointed out that Sledge was a regular at the large Alabama Gun Collector's Assoc. shows. The same friend also told me of and recommended Eugene Sledge's book. His son continues to set up a display with diorama, memorabilia, etc. and of course offers for sale Eugene's famous book, With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa. The book, by the way, is one of the best personal accounts of a WW2 frontline combat participant in my honest opinion. For those interested, the last time I checked, there were still some interviews of E.B. Sledge on YouTube that are very much worth watching for those interested. The article in the link gets into it, but much of the material for the HBO series, Pacific, came from Sledge's book which he wrote years after the war. A lot of his recollections were written from notes he kept in his pocket New Testament where he constantly wrote many of his experiences. The Mobile native retired from teaching Biology at Montevallo University (just south of Birmingham). RIP Eugene Sledge.
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Some years back just by chance, I came upon a table at the Ft. Worth gun show. R. V. Burgin was there autographing copies of his book "Islands of the Damned: A Marine at War in the Pacific". My two grown sons were with me. Yeah, three copies, and a snappy hand salute.
ReplyDeleteyeah. my uncle Jack was one of the "old breed". started with Chesty in the "canel" and then to Peleliu. after that blood bath. he was sent to the states to prepare Marines for Iwo. him and my dad (another WW2 vet with more medals than he cared to talk about) used to drink beer on the porch and shoot the bull.
ReplyDeleteuncle Jack went to the reunions and had lots of pictures of him and Chesty on his wall. never talked much about the war . but when they did, you sat quiet and listen. I miss talking to those men. dave in pa.
"With the Old Breed" is a masterful memoir. Very moving. During some of his reminisces I could almost smell the rotting bodies and the stench of the beaches with their crabs and coconuts.
ReplyDeleteA lot of good men should be remembered. The guys who fought in the Philippines and Burma, New Guinea and China. The guys who flew the Hump, the swabs (Navy and Coastie) who ran the LCs.
ReplyDeleteOne whole Hell of a lot of them - Army, Air Corps, USN, USCG. Remember all of them.
Books like his should be required reading prior to getting a high school diploma.
ReplyDeleteMy dad was training for the Japan invasion. Sledge's books made me realize how lucky we all were that dad wasn't in those battles. Took care of plenty of WWII vets who really never made it back, 40 years later at the VA I worked in.
I was born in 60, even in this little drought parched patch of West Texas I am still amazed at the number of WW2 Vets that were here and that I listened to their stories as I grew up...Raby was a gunner shot down over Germany, parachuted and captured and sent to POW camp....Luther served with partisans in Yougoslovia, he said they were bloodthirsty bastards but he was glad they had his back...Melvin rode an LST onto the beach at Okinawa, said they thought at first it was a picnic, then SHTF but he survived, my uncle Red was wounded during MARKET GARDEN and sent back home, my dad included even though he didn’t say much...I broke into his trunk at some point when I was 12 or 13, and found his dress blues, wool blouse, and a bunch of medals....I never found out what he did exactly......good men each and every one of them.....
ReplyDeleteMy Dad went in at 17 in 43 to the Marines. He got massive injuries on Okinawa and spent the next year in a Naval Hospital. He would never talk about it, but his BF who served with him was our insurance agent and they would meet and talk. My Dad had one scar from top left shoulder to right hip, and scars all across his legs, plus jungle rot on his feet. My Mom, then when each of the 3 of us got to drive we took him to the VA every 6 months to go into traction to straighten out his back. Both my Mom and Dad are now dead due to age.
ReplyDeleteAs a US Marine Vietnam combat veteran, I found Sledge's book(s) profoundly meaningful. Rest in eternal peace my Marine brother. I will see you at the guard house in Heaven.
ReplyDeleteWas in his classes at Montevallo. Remember him well.
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