Summary Of With The Old Breed

In With the Old Breed, Eugene B. Sledge chronicles his departure from the Marion Military Institute, through Marine Corps boot camp, and through two grueling Pacific island campaigns during World War II. E.B. Sledge initially wrote this memoir to describe war to his family, later publishing the piece for the public. What started out as writing during “down time” in the war, Sledge later spent countless hours with military documents, fact checking his writing so that it matched what was happening in the war. Because of the additional research that E.B. Sledge sought out and included in his memoir, the piece is very well organized and readable. This memoir could be read by curious civilians, academic scholars, and even professionals looking to

During and after the war, he accredited these stressors as the reason why he was still alive. The stress and treatment that he received during boot camp “hardened” him in a way that would be necessary to cope with the stress during battle. This belief was strengthened when Sledge witnessed reinforcements dying almost as soon as they engaged in combat (reinforcements often talked of little and insufficient training they had prior to being deployed). After graduating from boot camp and being shipped to the Pacific, E.B. Sledge had a close-knit group of friends that he formed relationships with. Some of these men were already combat veterans. In more ways than one, these men and the bonds they formed together would essentially hold the unit together and help each other keep their minds

Before leaving California as a replacement, Sledge never realized that he was just going to be “cannon fodder”. However, Sledge knows (as he did so himself) that people will do whatever it takes to defend his or her country. Throughout the memoir, Sledge often talked about “esprit de corps” and how that moral helped him and his comrades through the war. They respected, trusted, and depended on each other with their entire lives. When a person was wounded and in enemy fire, marines would come and carry them away on stretchers. And because of the prestige that they carried, the marines in Sledge’s unit also cleaned up the island of Okinawa after the Japanese defeat. This included picking up trash and covering dead enemy personnel.
When Sledge and his team first deployed onto the island of Peleliu, he was very scared. He wanted to turn and run away. Many times, he felt like a coward and did not know how he would continue his job. Even as he said this, though, he knew he would do it. Sledge often said he was not being brave for his actions, but he knew that he had to do them. To his relief, Sledge realized that even the combat veterans were just as scared, both at Peleliu and