gotta say SLEDGEHAMMER like snafu SLEDGEHAMMA your book is the reason i study the war and i always wanted to somehow serve in ww2 but i was wrong you saw things that scare a person for life with the old breed made me relize that war is not a game you wrote the best book i ever read most books were written be people who were not in the war and wrote of shows but you were thare and had knowlage i cant spell goOD but i can name many battles because of with the old breeD thanks slegedhammer R.I.P
no greater love then this that a man is willing to lay down his life for a friend. The Pacific was a great series and lead me to watch this and many others. So proud of the sacrifice the marines and others took. It upsets me that veterans today are given the short end of the stick. Thank You
The sad thing is that Pelelu was not even needed as an Island base,it could have been by passed,that stupid decision cost the Whole Marine 1st Div.How Sledge,or any of those men came back and lived a normal life shows why we call them the greatest generation!!
The Greatest Generation . No doubt about that . I am a student of the Pacific campaigns . My Father was bombing Jap barges full of Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) Marines as they landed on Malayan peninsular This occurred simultaneous to the Pearl Harbour attack , and his Australian Lockheed Hudson sank the first Jap Ship of the Pacific war . He was twenty years old . His Name Is CHARLES PARK MILLS . I salute all the men whose character was forged in the fires of the Pacific Campaign .
I lived on E. Peleliu Dr. at Camp LeJeune, NC as a child, from 1960-63. I wish I had known where that name came from, at the time. I very much appreciate the sacrifices of marines like Eugene Sledge in WWII. Living with the memories of that trip through hell, for the rest of their lives, was part of the sacrifice, too. I am also that writing about it, so that others could continue to learn from it, required him to reopen emotional wounds that were partially scarred over. That is courage!
@StonewallJackson26 I respectfully disagree, Iwo Jima was the only battle the Marines suffered more casualties then the Marines. The whole island was a fortress of death.
@StonewallJackson26 That or Okinawa, at Okinawa the Marines lossed 3,450 killed and 15,723 wounded and overall American lossed were 7,374 killed, 31,807 wounded and 239 missing in action which would be including Navy and Army personnel.
I read With The Old Breed by E.B. Sledge back in the early 80s'. It is a one of the most simple but best described first hand accounts you can read concerning the war in pacific. I strongly recommend it to any young man or woman who thinks going off to war is a good idea.
@TheChuck624 wars are fought differently today. they don't do trench warfare and they don't deploy troops in the thousands like that. attacks are target specific and usually done by units of about 30 men, not 10,000. living conditions are far better as well, sanitation, food, lighter equipment...its no picnic but its not the wholesale slaughter eugene and his buddies were send into and it doesn't approcah the level of inhumanity the ww2 troops endured.
@TheChuck624 Just reading it now and its incredible,He brings home the Horror and Suffering more so than any other War Book I have read.The Survivors certainly earned their Peace.
Oh! Bloody Pelelui. What a horrible battle that was. Horrific, close quarter combat that didn't stop for 2 months. Definitely on the exclusive list of the most terrible battles of the War.
I've seen enough war to last me a lifetime, but I can't even imagine anything as bad as Peleliu. Sledge and any of the guys who made that landing are hard in ways that just doesn't exist in 2011.
Wise words MilitantDanny and Muffin2700. I was not in the military myself, but I cannot imagine the thoughts the american soldiers went through as they landed on the Pacific beaches and in Normandie, on the D-Day. Yes, we owe so much to those soldiers, and even more to those fell on the line of duty. Men of great courage.
Whenever I watch documentaries on WWII, or watch The Pacific or Band Of Brothers, or read up on experiences in that war... it humbles me to the core.
I served as a Marine infantryman in Iraq, and experienced some of the heaviest fighting of the war with the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and in 2004 in Fallujah's Phantom Fury..... and it PALES in comparison to the experiences of these men gained in the first 10 minutes of hitting those beaches.
@MilitantDanny I agree with you, but if you had been in his boots, you would've done the same. They were stuck there and they HAD to do it, or die. I'm not sure it's about courage, but the force of things, the flow of events, and the necessity at the time.
Everything we take for granted today--we owe to Eugine Sledge, Robert Leckie, John Basilone, and every other soldier that had to endure the indescribable torments that they went through in the Pacific or in Europe. No one should ever go through that...Semper Fi Marines.
This basically means that almost every individual man in the 1st Marine Division probably saw direct fighting because the Division was expended so thin, for so long. Obviously if intelligence knew that there were 11,000 tough and determined defenders on Pelelui, that had dug elaborate systems of underground fortresses. They would have called off the mission or assaulted it with maybe 3 Marine Divisions, instead of the mere 1.
@StonewallJackson26 very true. the 1st marine division was basically put on hold after the battle because so many of the marines in the division were either killed or wounded. it was a horrific battle
Pelelui was so brutal for the simple fact that only 1 Division was deployed to take the tiny island.
On Tarawa the Marines faced 4,000 Japanese defenders. On Pelelui the Marines faced 11,000 Japanese defenders.
But with Tarawa there was 2 Marine Divisions that were deployed into battle. On Pelelui you have only have the 1st Marine Division for the first month and they faced off against an enemy that was almost triple the size of Tarawa's garrison.
I recently discovered in the trashcan at a yard sale, some personal effects and bereavement cards of the death of 2nd Lt. Malcolm Monette Yewell of Enid, Ok., who lost his life on the island 9/21/44. Also, his marine manual, a hemp style woven necklace with metal i.d blood type tags, a key and a clear plastic locket with the marine ensignia on one side, and an actual four leave clover on the other. I'm going to contact the Enid VFW this week to see if they will take these sacred items.
@flipwiggins You are a good person for finding those. I wonder just how much items that belonged to the Ameican Fighting Forces that familes saw the stuff, shugged their collective shoulders and said something like; "well I have no room for this and must not be that important." So, they just throw it into the trash...sad and sick.
@flipwiggins If you have not found a resting place for a fallen Marines artifacts, please contact me. I have recently secured the personal possessions of a Marine that fell on the first day of Peleliu, to the historical dep't of the Museum of the Marines at Quantico. His letters, medals and history will be forever safe and some will be displayed.
Thank you for rescuing this valuable pieces of history, well done.
I had to live up to the 1st Marine Div reputation & battle campaigns of WW II in 1969 at MCRD San Diego seated at chow hall tables for 30 Marines each table named after Marine battles designated by campaign banners hanging on the walls, Pelielu, Guadacanal,Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, New Guinea. I knew then it wasn't John Wayne stuff. I did my best to be among the best and earned my title US Marine 10 wks later. These men like Sledge,Phillips,Burgin & the rest were my heros unsung then. RIP
General Nakagawa boasted that it would take one million men to dislodge him from Peleliu. Indeed he was right. It took 17,000 MARINES and a little over 2 months to do it.
No words to describe the intensity of feelings that can pass by the heart of those who know about Eugene or any other man and women who suffered directly or not whith that war. I am a military from Portugal and i would want to be there with them, not because of the war because only a stupid personne would say that, but to have the honnor to be in the presence of any of those mans that fight for us and for the coming generations. thank u from Portugal Army for all that u sacrifice for the world.
It's great to see these interviews. My dad was the same rank, 1st of the 1st, same places as Mr Sledge. He always said to me that he was a company clerk or he drove a truck. He never told me about combat. I am finally realizing what he went through and why he never told me about his experience.
I'm very proud to say that he's from my home town of Mobile, AL! He was also very intelligent as well, after the war he got his M.S. in Botany at Auburn, earned his doctorate in Biology at the University of Florida and eventually became a tenured professor at the University of Montevallo!
With the Old Breed was / is the best book on the South Pacific... My grand dad served with Sledge in those campaigns and he never spoke of the war but I read about it and now have a huge reverence for his service and medals.
I have seen Sledge interviewed in the series War in the Pacific. He tells an amazing story of war on the front lines. Read his With the Old Breed. In that he tells of the grubby, thankless task of killing - he was 30 days on the front lines at Peleliu, a very messy business, and one that stands in the shadow of Iwo Jima, only because the latter has become more famous. These men suffered much and gave their lives.
I saw a great interview with him, where he was telling a story about collecting gold jap teeth, and someone said to him "what would your mother think" in that aspect , amazing story
Respect!
1815ish 2 months ago
gotta say SLEDGEHAMMER like snafu SLEDGEHAMMA your book is the reason i study the war and i always wanted to somehow serve in ww2 but i was wrong you saw things that scare a person for life with the old breed made me relize that war is not a game you wrote the best book i ever read most books were written be people who were not in the war and wrote of shows but you were thare and had knowlage i cant spell goOD but i can name many battles because of with the old breeD thanks slegedhammer R.I.P
ww2guy100 4 months ago
no greater love then this that a man is willing to lay down his life for a friend. The Pacific was a great series and lead me to watch this and many others. So proud of the sacrifice the marines and others took. It upsets me that veterans today are given the short end of the stick. Thank You
DevotionNMotion 4 months ago
The sad thing is that Pelelu was not even needed as an Island base,it could have been by passed,that stupid decision cost the Whole Marine 1st Div.How Sledge,or any of those men came back and lived a normal life shows why we call them the greatest generation!!
nightfrog205 5 months ago
The Greatest Generation . No doubt about that . I am a student of the Pacific campaigns . My Father was bombing Jap barges full of Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) Marines as they landed on Malayan peninsular This occurred simultaneous to the Pearl Harbour attack , and his Australian Lockheed Hudson sank the first Jap Ship of the Pacific war . He was twenty years old . His Name Is CHARLES PARK MILLS . I salute all the men whose character was forged in the fires of the Pacific Campaign .
peterm3964 5 months ago
I lived on E. Peleliu Dr. at Camp LeJeune, NC as a child, from 1960-63. I wish I had known where that name came from, at the time. I very much appreciate the sacrifices of marines like Eugene Sledge in WWII. Living with the memories of that trip through hell, for the rest of their lives, was part of the sacrifice, too. I am also that writing about it, so that others could continue to learn from it, required him to reopen emotional wounds that were partially scarred over. That is courage!
aMarinedaughter 6 months ago
sledge hammer!!
skinheadfred94 7 months ago
Sledgehammer I like that
thesoutherncross100 7 months ago
I am reading WITH THE OLD BREED right now. It is one of the best books I have ever read. God Bless Sledgehammer.
FRANCIS6189 8 months ago
Sledge also fought on Okinawa which was just as brutal and violent as Peleliu
nik71989 8 months ago
For one effective combat division. Pelelui might have been the toughest battle in Marine Corps history.
StonewallJackson26 9 months ago
@StonewallJackson26 I respectfully disagree, Iwo Jima was the only battle the Marines suffered more casualties then the Marines. The whole island was a fortress of death.
southparkfan2717 8 months ago
@StonewallJackson26 That or Okinawa, at Okinawa the Marines lossed 3,450 killed and 15,723 wounded and overall American lossed were 7,374 killed, 31,807 wounded and 239 missing in action which would be including Navy and Army personnel.
AUG351 4 months ago
@StonewallJackson26 iwo jima man, thats all i can say
TakeyoLifebitch 4 months ago
Semper Fidelis Eugene
25TEMPLAR 9 months ago
::Salute::
smcneal057 1 year ago
I read With The Old Breed by E.B. Sledge back in the early 80s'. It is a one of the most simple but best described first hand accounts you can read concerning the war in pacific. I strongly recommend it to any young man or woman who thinks going off to war is a good idea.
TheChuck624 1 year ago
@TheChuck624 It's an excellent book. I don't think anyone nowaday could do what those marines did. They are true heroes.
nik71989 8 months ago
@TheChuck624 The book is absolutely superb.
gjohnsoningary 8 months ago
@TheChuck624 wars are fought differently today. they don't do trench warfare and they don't deploy troops in the thousands like that. attacks are target specific and usually done by units of about 30 men, not 10,000. living conditions are far better as well, sanitation, food, lighter equipment...its no picnic but its not the wholesale slaughter eugene and his buddies were send into and it doesn't approcah the level of inhumanity the ww2 troops endured.
wadyano 6 months ago
@TheChuck624 Just reading it now and its incredible,He brings home the Horror and Suffering more so than any other War Book I have read.The Survivors certainly earned their Peace.
rory5877 5 months ago
Sledgehammer! America thanks you!
a55kiker 1 year ago
they were just regular boys/men, and they were just doing what had to be done.
JackRMCdo 1 year ago
Oh! Bloody Pelelui. What a horrible battle that was. Horrific, close quarter combat that didn't stop for 2 months. Definitely on the exclusive list of the most terrible battles of the War.
HaggenPagan26 1 year ago
These guys are the real heroes. WW2 was a war that had to be fought. There was no other choice. Thank God for that great generation.
calif562 1 year ago
I've seen enough war to last me a lifetime, but I can't even imagine anything as bad as Peleliu. Sledge and any of the guys who made that landing are hard in ways that just doesn't exist in 2011.
Falcon988 1 year ago
RESPECT FOR THIS HEROE
egl29394 1 year ago
@egl29394 heroes*
NarooluCA 1 year ago
Semper Fi Sledgehammer.
SweetGambit 1 year ago
respect...respect..respect..
martijnfoppenbrother 1 year ago
Semper Fi, Mr. Sledge.
Ceaaa22 1 year ago
@Ceaaa22 i agree
infantryfilms2nd 1 year ago
Eugene looks pimp even when hes old! :)
TheNiceguy1212 1 year ago
Great series!
BUDDY6414724297 1 year ago
HERO. NUFF SAID
Twom44 1 year ago
Hero
SUPERagent007 1 year ago
Wise words MilitantDanny and Muffin2700. I was not in the military myself, but I cannot imagine the thoughts the american soldiers went through as they landed on the Pacific beaches and in Normandie, on the D-Day. Yes, we owe so much to those soldiers, and even more to those fell on the line of duty. Men of great courage.
tailandia20 1 year ago
Whenever I watch documentaries on WWII, or watch The Pacific or Band Of Brothers, or read up on experiences in that war... it humbles me to the core.
I served as a Marine infantryman in Iraq, and experienced some of the heaviest fighting of the war with the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and in 2004 in Fallujah's Phantom Fury..... and it PALES in comparison to the experiences of these men gained in the first 10 minutes of hitting those beaches.
That generation's courage was incredible.
MilitantDanny 1 year ago
@MilitantDanny I agree with you, but if you had been in his boots, you would've done the same. They were stuck there and they HAD to do it, or die. I'm not sure it's about courage, but the force of things, the flow of events, and the necessity at the time.
ouimaisnon100 10 months ago
Everything we take for granted today--we owe to Eugine Sledge, Robert Leckie, John Basilone, and every other soldier that had to endure the indescribable torments that they went through in the Pacific or in Europe. No one should ever go through that...Semper Fi Marines.
muffin2700 1 year ago
@muffin2700 thank god someone understands
Sexpistols15151 1 year ago
@muffin2700 i agree complete with you but Eugine Sledge, Robert Leckie and John Basilone are Marines not soldiers
Devildog1591 1 year ago
@Devildog1591 They were Marines. Soldier is also a title so feel free to capitalize it as well. I was an airborne infantryman and a Soldier.
speedtrapp28 1 year ago
the intensity of the what ?
GenGeogeSPatton 1 year ago
Eugene Sledge was a great and amazing man. Rest in Peace.
MrS5099 1 year ago
His book is amazing, thumbs up if you agree
CherokeeJohnny6 1 year ago
@CherokeeJohnny6 just finished it ,with the old breed !!
TVCSD 1 year ago
This basically means that almost every individual man in the 1st Marine Division probably saw direct fighting because the Division was expended so thin, for so long. Obviously if intelligence knew that there were 11,000 tough and determined defenders on Pelelui, that had dug elaborate systems of underground fortresses. They would have called off the mission or assaulted it with maybe 3 Marine Divisions, instead of the mere 1.
StonewallJackson26 1 year ago
@StonewallJackson26 very true. the 1st marine division was basically put on hold after the battle because so many of the marines in the division were either killed or wounded. it was a horrific battle
bikepeddlar6 1 year ago
Pelelui was so brutal for the simple fact that only 1 Division was deployed to take the tiny island.
On Tarawa the Marines faced 4,000 Japanese defenders. On Pelelui the Marines faced 11,000 Japanese defenders.
But with Tarawa there was 2 Marine Divisions that were deployed into battle. On Pelelui you have only have the 1st Marine Division for the first month and they faced off against an enemy that was almost triple the size of Tarawa's garrison.
StonewallJackson26 1 year ago
I recently discovered in the trashcan at a yard sale, some personal effects and bereavement cards of the death of 2nd Lt. Malcolm Monette Yewell of Enid, Ok., who lost his life on the island 9/21/44. Also, his marine manual, a hemp style woven necklace with metal i.d blood type tags, a key and a clear plastic locket with the marine ensignia on one side, and an actual four leave clover on the other. I'm going to contact the Enid VFW this week to see if they will take these sacred items.
flipwiggins 1 year ago
@flipwiggins You are a good person for finding those. I wonder just how much items that belonged to the Ameican Fighting Forces that familes saw the stuff, shugged their collective shoulders and said something like; "well I have no room for this and must not be that important." So, they just throw it into the trash...sad and sick.
rangeclerk 1 year ago
@flipwiggins If you have not found a resting place for a fallen Marines artifacts, please contact me. I have recently secured the personal possessions of a Marine that fell on the first day of Peleliu, to the historical dep't of the Museum of the Marines at Quantico. His letters, medals and history will be forever safe and some will be displayed.
Thank you for rescuing this valuable pieces of history, well done.
Semper Fi !
Toddinfantry 1 year ago
Sledgehammer, sleep well. your books live on
alcoholman01 1 year ago
I had to live up to the 1st Marine Div reputation & battle campaigns of WW II in 1969 at MCRD San Diego seated at chow hall tables for 30 Marines each table named after Marine battles designated by campaign banners hanging on the walls, Pelielu, Guadacanal,Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, New Guinea. I knew then it wasn't John Wayne stuff. I did my best to be among the best and earned my title US Marine 10 wks later. These men like Sledge,Phillips,Burgin & the rest were my heros unsung then. RIP
Oscarme2 1 year ago
General Nakagawa boasted that it would take one million men to dislodge him from Peleliu. Indeed he was right. It took 17,000 MARINES and a little over 2 months to do it.
mindeloman 1 year ago
@mindeloman Don't forget a large portion of the 81st Infantry division lol
giulianoisthebestyep 1 year ago
@mindeloman That was Tarawa that Lt. Gen. Keiji Shibazaki was boasting about, not Peleliu.
marinecorps29 1 year ago
we all love u Sledgehammer RIP man :(
kiki0391 1 year ago
I just finished the last episode of 'The Pacific'. I liked it a lot.
RIP from Norway.
Ialocin85 1 year ago
@Ialocin85 Loved that, It sucked when it was over. Wish I had more to watch
911turb0 1 year ago
your heros eugene sledge,robert leckie,john basilone and layden.
sromero139 1 year ago
mate i'm from australia, we have weary dunlop but u my man are one of the most corageous men ever RIP sledgehammer
HARODERE12345 1 year ago
you are a great marine
sasukeuchiha0901 1 year ago
RIP Eugene. Thank you for fighting for our country.
AnEvilLemon 1 year ago
I'm sorry about what you and your Marine comrades went through. (I'm not Japanese btw despite my nickname).
XxMusashiYamatoxX 1 year ago
Hope you're resting in peace Eugene!
Deano1736 1 year ago
Semper Fi
RIP from Malaysia
TheBzzer 1 year ago
No words to describe the intensity of feelings that can pass by the heart of those who know about Eugene or any other man and women who suffered directly or not whith that war. I am a military from Portugal and i would want to be there with them, not because of the war because only a stupid personne would say that, but to have the honnor to be in the presence of any of those mans that fight for us and for the coming generations. thank u from Portugal Army for all that u sacrifice for the world.
AlfredoFerreira28 1 year ago
SEMPER FI
RIP from Portugal <3
J0hnCl0sed 1 year ago
Semper Fi.
You are a hero Eugene :)
I wanna meet you up there...
Snafu [*] Ack Ack [*] E.B Sledge [*]
Qubek33 1 year ago
why do we still have war? didn't we learn from the mistakes we made in the past. Everyone gets wounded in war. EVERYONE!
stealthfighter077 1 year ago
I just posted a review of one of his books. check it out if you want.
anyway. This guy= a Hero from what i read about him.
ARomanianKid14 1 year ago
the pacific really gave us a tiny glimpse of how horrible WWII was. RIP Sledgehammer
HalfDeadFatGuy0 1 year ago
you're a great marine Eugene..
anarazi 1 year ago
SEMPER FI.
Rest In Peace Eugene <3
sbdgjess 1 year ago
Watching HBO's Miniseries, "The Pacific", I have never been more proud of being a Marine. Semper Fidelis
T. Romero, H&S Co. 3/5 1st Mar Div. 86-90
ouchmynadds01 1 year ago
Thank you US MARINES for THEN....... and NOW!!!
JoeBonsall 1 year ago
Hoorah!
Mikevdog 1 year ago
That sounded like Ronald Reagan narrating that first part.
jakebroadwood 1 year ago
Hats off to Eugene,and all the Marines in the Pacific theater!
fdegraff 1 year ago
Sledgehammer!!!
weiliiiiiii 1 year ago
yea definatly an incredible man just finnished reading his book. it was great i have such respect for this fine gentleman
batman2493 1 year ago
It's great to see these interviews. My dad was the same rank, 1st of the 1st, same places as Mr Sledge. He always said to me that he was a company clerk or he drove a truck. He never told me about combat. I am finally realizing what he went through and why he never told me about his experience.
bigmarkwil 2 years ago
I'm very proud to say that he's from my home town of Mobile, AL! He was also very intelligent as well, after the war he got his M.S. in Botany at Auburn, earned his doctorate in Biology at the University of Florida and eventually became a tenured professor at the University of Montevallo!
PKP405 2 years ago
Mobile,Al is great was more or less raised there father was in the USCG there.
Dogmeat1950 1 year ago
He is gonna Be in the MINI-SIRES called THE PACIFIC but he is gonna be played buy someone else
MARaGEx04 2 years ago
ya he died of old age.
Dogmeat1950 2 years ago
@Dogmeat1950 no he died of stomach cancer.
stw1396 1 year ago
yes, I know , lol....He cant be in it , hes dead.... the series is based on parts from his writings
briplun 2 years ago
With the Old Breed was / is the best book on the South Pacific... My grand dad served with Sledge in those campaigns and he never spoke of the war but I read about it and now have a huge reverence for his service and medals.
bigsouthernman29 2 years ago
I have seen Sledge interviewed in the series War in the Pacific. He tells an amazing story of war on the front lines. Read his With the Old Breed. In that he tells of the grubby, thankless task of killing - he was 30 days on the front lines at Peleliu, a very messy business, and one that stands in the shadow of Iwo Jima, only because the latter has become more famous. These men suffered much and gave their lives.
TPL001 2 years ago
I saw a great interview with him, where he was telling a story about collecting gold jap teeth, and someone said to him "what would your mother think" in that aspect , amazing story
briplun 2 years ago
@briplun did you see that interview on Youtube? If so, got a title for that vid?
shimokita2 1 year ago