Peleliu:The "Forgotten" Battle

"Nothing Like Peleliu" Clip (2:05)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yexo4SNj6g

 

Eugene Sledge from Mobile, Alabama wrote With the Old Breed...a short, riveting, and horrific book that describes his experience as a Marine during the battles of Peleliu and Okinawa.  Most history books, teachers, or students don't remember/ teach/ learn about the 28 day Battle of Peleliu...but, it is a battle that should never be forgotten.

Eugene Sledge and Sidney Phillips

Mobile, Alabama - May 1942

"Remembering E.B. Sledge" Clip (8:12)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GHjgKvl25s

 

Here are a few short excerpts from With the Old Breed...

 



“War is brutish, inglorious, and a terrible waste... The only redeeming factors were my comrades' incredible bravery and their devotion to each other."

 

"To those who entered the meat grinder itself the war was a netherworld of horror from which escape seemed less and less likely as casualties mounted and the fighting dragged on and on. Time had no meaning, life had no meaning. The fierce struggle for survival in the abyss of Peleliu had eroded the veneer of civilization and made savages of us all.”  

 

"We thought the Japanese would never surrender. Many refused to believe it. Sitting in stunned silence, we remembered our dead. So many dead. So many maimed. So many bright futures consigned to the ashes of the past. So many dreams lost in the madness that had engulfed us. Except for a few widely scattered shouts of joy, the survivors of the abyss sat hollow-eyed and silent, trying to comprehend a world without war."

 

“You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye...Who cheer when soldier lads march by...Sneak home and pray you’ll never know the Hell where youth and laughter go.”