Thirty-six years after his experiences at Peleliu and Okinawa, E. B Sledge, by then a retired ornithology professor and PhD., published what is generally considered the finest memoir of the war in the Pacific. His story was the foundation of HBO's 'The Pacific' and the audio version of this book is voiced by Tom Hanks.
He volunteered for the Marines and arrived in 1944 in the Pacific as a Pfc. 60mm motorman and replacement in the 1st Division. On 15 September, they stepped out onto Peleliu. Whether the battle was worth the effort has been long debated. Many think it was not strategically necessary. It was the first time the Japanese utilized defense-in-depth, as opposed to fighting on the beach. The result was a Marine casualty rate twice that of Tarawa and later equalled at Iwo Jima. Day one was gut-wrenching fear, anxiety, confusion, incoming artillery, no sleep, filth and thirst. Advancing across a Japanese airfield, "bullets snapped and cracked, and tracers went by me at waist height. To be shelled by massed artillery and mortar is absolutely terrifying, but to be shelled in the open is terror compounded beyond the belief of anyone who hasn't experienced it." On the third night, an experienced officer made the observation that courage was a matter of doing your duty while afraid. There was no ever being unafraid. They were relieved on D +10 by Army soldiers, only to march around to another part of the island and continue the fight. "The war was a netherworld of horror from which escape seemed less and less likely...........Time had no meaning; life had no meaning." Added to the physical threat and emotional exhaustion was the stench. They were on a rocky atoll, surrounded by decaying corpses, accumulated human waste and rotting food. Sledge survived and on 30 October left the island. His company left with 85 of 235 unhurt. The Marines suffered 1252 dead and 5274 injured. The Army lost 542 with 2736 wounded. As for the defenders, they had 10,900 dead, and of the 312 captured, only seven were soldiers. The rest were civilians.
They were sent back to the Solomons for rest and refitting. The war in the Pacific was not non-stop and Marines had months off between action. Okinawa, only 350 miles from the home islands, was expected to be, and was, the longest and largest battle in the Pacific. It had 110,000 defenders. The Marines were advised their beach casualties would be 80-85%. At 0830 on April 1, Easter Sunday, they went ashore. Fifty-thousand men landed unopposed. Although there was heavy fighting, the 1st Marines were in the rear and not in the mix for the entire month of April. They went into action on May 1 and would stay at it for 50 days. The fighting on Okinawa is well-known for it's intensity, and compounding the tension in May was rain, lots of rain. He describes trying to dig a foxhole through a decaying maggot-infested Japanese corpse with hands deformed by malnutrition. As good as the US was at supporting its frontline troops, weeks of cold food, rotting clothes, the unburied dead and endless enemy fire took its toll. Okinawa was finally taken on 21 June. Their war was over. Company K had gone to Peleliu with 285 men. Eighty-five landed on Okinawa. Only 26 were there when the battle ended. ""War is brutish, inglorious, and a terrible waste. Combat leaves an indelible mark on those who are forced to endure it."
This extraordinary story is highly regarded because it is so plainly and almost matter of factly written. Sledge does not deal with any big picture issues. He never mentions Pearl Harbor and barely comments on FDR's death or V-E Day. There are no histrionics or paeans to patriotism. It was about being a Marine and doing your duty. He does observe that they hated the Japanese because they had mutilated American dead. That's it. No more, no less.
He volunteered for the Marines and arrived in 1944 in the Pacific as a Pfc. 60mm motorman and replacement in the 1st Division. On 15 September, they stepped out onto Peleliu. Whether the battle was worth the effort has been long debated. Many think it was not strategically necessary. It was the first time the Japanese utilized defense-in-depth, as opposed to fighting on the beach. The result was a Marine casualty rate twice that of Tarawa and later equalled at Iwo Jima. Day one was gut-wrenching fear, anxiety, confusion, incoming artillery, no sleep, filth and thirst. Advancing across a Japanese airfield, "bullets snapped and cracked, and tracers went by me at waist height. To be shelled by massed artillery and mortar is absolutely terrifying, but to be shelled in the open is terror compounded beyond the belief of anyone who hasn't experienced it." On the third night, an experienced officer made the observation that courage was a matter of doing your duty while afraid. There was no ever being unafraid. They were relieved on D +10 by Army soldiers, only to march around to another part of the island and continue the fight. "The war was a netherworld of horror from which escape seemed less and less likely...........Time had no meaning; life had no meaning." Added to the physical threat and emotional exhaustion was the stench. They were on a rocky atoll, surrounded by decaying corpses, accumulated human waste and rotting food. Sledge survived and on 30 October left the island. His company left with 85 of 235 unhurt. The Marines suffered 1252 dead and 5274 injured. The Army lost 542 with 2736 wounded. As for the defenders, they had 10,900 dead, and of the 312 captured, only seven were soldiers. The rest were civilians.
They were sent back to the Solomons for rest and refitting. The war in the Pacific was not non-stop and Marines had months off between action. Okinawa, only 350 miles from the home islands, was expected to be, and was, the longest and largest battle in the Pacific. It had 110,000 defenders. The Marines were advised their beach casualties would be 80-85%. At 0830 on April 1, Easter Sunday, they went ashore. Fifty-thousand men landed unopposed. Although there was heavy fighting, the 1st Marines were in the rear and not in the mix for the entire month of April. They went into action on May 1 and would stay at it for 50 days. The fighting on Okinawa is well-known for it's intensity, and compounding the tension in May was rain, lots of rain. He describes trying to dig a foxhole through a decaying maggot-infested Japanese corpse with hands deformed by malnutrition. As good as the US was at supporting its frontline troops, weeks of cold food, rotting clothes, the unburied dead and endless enemy fire took its toll. Okinawa was finally taken on 21 June. Their war was over. Company K had gone to Peleliu with 285 men. Eighty-five landed on Okinawa. Only 26 were there when the battle ended. ""War is brutish, inglorious, and a terrible waste. Combat leaves an indelible mark on those who are forced to endure it."
This extraordinary story is highly regarded because it is so plainly and almost matter of factly written. Sledge does not deal with any big picture issues. He never mentions Pearl Harbor and barely comments on FDR's death or V-E Day. There are no histrionics or paeans to patriotism. It was about being a Marine and doing your duty. He does observe that they hated the Japanese because they had mutilated American dead. That's it. No more, no less.
No comments:
Post a Comment