With the Old Breed

at Peleliu and Okinawa

by E.B. Sledge

Been so busy, with so many things going on in my life right now. I do not wish to be swept up and wake up one day and realize I'm 50, without doing anything that I had set out in life to do. Thus to maintain some sanity, here is a book review. I read this several months ago.

This book was written by E.B. Sledge who was a marine in WWII, in the Pacific campaign. I only found out about this book after watching the HBO series called The Pacific. It tells the WWII Pacific campaign through the experiences of mainly 2 individuals. This book is one 1 of the 2 individuals (Sledge), the other being Robert Leckie. This is a great book that looks at the campaign through the experiences of ground troops, rather than high level strategy. It tells war in more human terms, rather than intellectual terms. It tells of the bravery and endurance of these men, and also the horrors and hardship they have to face. People would be well-served to read books like this to understand that we should not go into war on a whim. It describes well what the military personnel go through, as well as how people are affected in the cross-hairs of war. It is definitely a classic, and very well-written with no biased language, but still maintains a strong emotional connection with the reader.