With the old breed

Zusatztext “Eugene Sledge became more than a legend with his memoir! With The Old Breed . He became a chronicler! a historian! a storyteller who turns the extremes of the war in the Pacific—the terror! the camaraderie! the banal and the extraordinary—into terms we mortals can grasp.”—Tom Hanks   “In all the literature on the Second World War! there is not a more honest! realistic or moving memoir than Eugene Sledge’s. This is the real deal! the real war: unvarnished! brutal! without a shred of sentimentality or false patriotism! a profound primer on what it actually was like to be in that war. It is a classic that will outlive all the armchair generals’ safe accounts of—not the ‘good war’—but the worst war ever.”—Ken Burns Informationen zum Autor E. B. Sledge Klappentext "Eugene Sledge became more than a legend with his memoir, With The Old Breed. He became a chronicler, a historian, a storyteller who turns the extremes of the war in the Pacific-the terror, the camaraderie, the banal and the extraordinary-into terms we mortals can grasp."-Tom Hanks NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In The Wall Street Journal, Victor Davis Hanson named With the Old Breed one of the top five books on epic twentieth-century battles. Studs Terkel interviewed the author for his definitive oral history, The Good War. Now E. B. Sledge's acclaimed first-person account of fighting at Peleliu and Okinawa returns to thrill, edify, and inspire a new generation. An Alabama boy steeped in American history and enamored of such heroes as George Washington and Daniel Boone, Eugene B. Sledge became part of the war's famous 1st Marine Division-3rd Battalion, 5th Marines. Even after intense training, he was shocked to be thrown into the battle of Peleliu, where "the world was a nightmare of flashes, explosions, and snapping bullets." By the time Sledge hit the hell of Okinawa, he was a combat vet, still filled with fear but no longer with panic. Based on notes Sledge secretly kept in a copy of the New Testament, With the Old Breed captures with utter simplicity and searing honesty the experience of a soldier in the fierce Pacific Theater. Here is what saved, threatened, and changed his life. Here, too, is the story of how he learned to hate and kill-and came to love-his fellow man. "In all the literature on the Second World War, there is not a more honest, realistic or moving memoir than Eugene Sledge's. This is the real deal, the real war: unvarnished, brutal, without a shred of sentimentality or false patriotism, a profound primer on what it actually was like to be in that war. It is a classic that will outlive all the armchair generals' safe accounts of-not the 'good war'-but the worst war ever."-Ken BurnsChapter One Making of a Marine I enlisted in the Marine Corps on 3 December 1942 at Marion, Alabama. At the time I was a freshman at Marion Military Institute. My parents and brother Edward had urged me to stay in college as long as possible in order to qualify for a commission in some technical branch of the U.S. Army. But, prompted by a deep feeling of uneasiness that the war might end before I could get overseas into combat, I wanted to enlist in the Marine Corps as soon as possible. Ed, a Citadel graduate and a second lieutenant in the army, suggested life would be more beautiful for me as an officer. Mother and Father were mildly distraught at the thought of me in the Marines as an enlisted man—that is, “cannon fodder.” So when a Marine recruiting team came to Marion Institute, I compromised and signed up for one of the Corps’ new officer training programs. It was called V-12. The recruiting sergeant wore dress blue trousers, a khaki shirt, necktie, and white barracks hat. His shoes had a shine the likes of which I’d never seen. He asked me lots of questions and filled out numerous official papers. When he asked, “Any scars, birthmarks, or ...

Product details

• Authors: E B Sledge, E. B. Sledge, E.B. Sledge, Eugene B. Sledge, Eugene B. 'Sledgehamer' Sledge
• Publisher: Presidio Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 25.09.2007
• EAN: 9780891419198
• ISBN: 978-0-89141-919-8
• No. of pages: 384
• Dimensions: 105 mm x 175 mm x 30 mm
• Subject: Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Biographies, autobiographies