Audiobook: “With The Old Breed” by E. B. Sledge
Posted By RichC on October 17, 2023
As I’ve blogged a few times before, when it comes to history books, I enjoy reading and learning about World War II history and those of “the Greatest Generation” who rose to moment to save the world in the 1940s. My focus for the last decade or so has been in studying the Pacific Theater between 1941 and 1946 … although I’ve read and spent time studying events preceeding the US going to war.
Several of the books recently have been about the Black Sheep Squadron and the USMC pilots like Pappy Boyington who flew Corsairs in the Solomon Islands. My focus on WW2 aviation and supporting their fellow Marines who stormed the beaches during the island hopping campaign has shifted me to map reading and re-watching the 2010 miniseries “The Pacific.” This in turn triggered me to wanting to read a memoir by Eugene Sledge — “With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa” — 
which was the basis for the miniseries.
While listening in segments, I had the opportunity to do a little Internet sleuthing as I really needed to check out a few maps. Although I haven’t gone back to research maps on Peleliu, I have been studying the maps of Okinawa that are detailed on an ibibio.org website.
Brenda is now listening to the audiobook version along with me and will not let me listen ahead (I understand this!) She is as enthralled and moved by the “heavy” details of what these American heroes did to save our country and win the war against a very evil enemy. There’s no way to soft sell it, the soldier of the Empire of Japan were a vicious and horrible enemy. These US Marines who went head to head with an entrench enemy were amazing men. Currently we made it through Peleliu and are at chapter 8 and preparing to land on Okinawa. I can’t imagine being a survivor of previous landing and having to do it again.
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