Eugene Sledge
{{short description|United States Marine}}
{{more citations needed|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox military person
| image = Eugene sledge.jpg
| caption = Sledge in 1946
| nickname = Sledgehammer
|birth_name = Eugene Bondurant Sledge
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1923|11|4}}
| birth_place = {{nowrap|Mobile, Alabama, U.S.}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2001|3|3|1923|11|4}}
| death_place = {{nowrap|Montevallo, Alabama, U.S.}}
| placeofburial = Pine Crest Cemetery, Mobile, Alabama
| placeofburial_label = Place of burial
| allegiance = United States
| branch = United States Marine Corps
| serviceyears = 1942–1946
| rank = Corporal
| unit = K Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division
| battles = World War II
| awards =
| spouse = {{marriage|Jeanne Arceneaux|1952}}
| children = 2
| laterwork = Professor of biology, author
}}
Eugene Bondurant Sledge (November 4, 1923 – March 3, 2001) was a United States Marine, university professor, and author. His 1981 memoir With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa chronicled his combat experiences during World War II and was used as source material for the Ken Burns PBS documentary The War (2007), as well as the HBO miniseries The Pacific (2010), in which he is portrayed by Joseph Mazzello.{{cite web |title=The Pacific |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374463/ |website=IMDB |publisher=IMDB.com |access-date=18 April 2019}}
Biography
=Early life=
Eugene Bondurant Sledge was born on November 4, 1923, in Mobile, Alabama, to Edward Simmons Sledge, a physician, and Mary Frank Sturdivant Sledge, dean of women students at Huntingdon College. In 1935 his family moved to Georgia Cottage in Mobile. He graduated from Murphy High School in Mobile in the spring of 1942. His older brother, Edward Simmons Sledge II, was born on September 10, 1920, and was commissioned as an officer in the United States Army after graduating as a cadet from The Citadel. During World War II, he served on the Western Front, and left the Army with the rank of major.
Eugene was a sickly child, and lost two years of schooling due to rheumatic fever which left him with a heart murmur. However, once the condition subsided, his family encouraged him to enroll in college rather than join the military. His close childhood friend Sidney Phillips also wrote to Sledge from Guadalcanal, and urged him not to enlist.{{cite web |last1=Zobenica |first1=Jon |title=Getting Their Guns Off The books that shaped HBO's The Pacific give the lie to the notion of generational exceptionalism. |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/05/getting-their-guns-off/308030/ |website=The Atlantic |access-date=25 February 2021 |date=May 2010}}
=Military career=
In the fall of 1942, Sledge enrolled in the Marion Military Institute, in Marion, Alabama, but then chose to volunteer for the U.S. Marine Corps in December 1942. He was placed in the V-12 officer training program and was sent to the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he and half of his detachment "flunked out" so they would be allowed to enter immediate service as enlistees and not "miss the war".{{Cite book| last = Sledge| first = Eugene| title = With the Old Breed| publisher = Presidio| year = 1981|pages = 5, 6|oclc = 12197607 }}
Once he was out of school, he was assigned to duty as an enlisted man in K Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division (K/3/5), where he served with Corporal R.V. Burgin and Private First Class Merriell "Snafu" Shelton.{{cite web |date=May 10, 2010 |first1=Kyle |last1=Buchanan |url=http://www.movieline.com/2010/05/the-verge-rami-malek.php?page=2 |title=The Verge: Rami Malek |access-date=January 6, 2011 |work=Movie Line |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130129215650/http://movieline.com/2010/05/10/the-verge-rami-malek/ |archive-date=January 29, 2013 |url-status=dead }} He rose to the rank of corporal in the Pacific Theater and saw combat as a 60 mm mortarman{{cite book|author=Joseph H. Alexander|title=The Final Campaign: Marines in the Victory on Okinawa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P7ltVv2_p-wC|year=1996|publisher=DIANE Publishing|isbn=978-0-7881-3528-6}} at Peleliu and Okinawa. When fighting grew too close for effective use of the mortar, he served in other duties, such as stretcher bearer and as a rifleman.{{Cite book| last = Sledge| first = Eugene| title = With the Old Breed| publisher = Presidio| year = 1981|pages = 116–117|oclc = 12197607 }}
During his service, Sledge kept notes of what happened in his pocket-sized New Testament. When the war ended, he compiled these notes which would, many years later, become the memoir With the Old Breed. After being posted to Beijing after the war,{{Cite book| last = Sledge| first = Eugene| title = China Marine| publisher = University of Alabama Press| date = May 2002|pages = 1, 17, 19, 20, 23, 27, 32, 35, 42, 44, 49, 51, 72| isbn = 0-8173-1161-0 }} he was discharged from the Marine Corps in February 1946 with the rank of corporal.[http://content.lib.auburn.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/ebsledge&CISOPTR=209&REC=16 USMC discharge certificate]
=Post-war=
After the war ended, Sledge attended Auburn University (then known as Alabama Polytechnic Institute),{{Cite web |url=http://content.lib.auburn.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/ebsledge&CISOPTR=143&CISOBOX=1&REC=4 |title=Eugene B. Sledge, Auburn University Student |website=Auburn University Digital Library |access-date=2010-04-13}} where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity.{{Cite web |url=http://www.phideltatheta.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1028&Itemid=9 |title=Upcoming Miniseries on HBO Tracks Real-Life WWII Story of Auburn Phi}} He received a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration in the summer of 1949.{{Cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1796|title=Eugene B. Sledge|website=Encyclopedia of Alabama|language=en|access-date=2019-11-16}}
Sledge had a hard time readjusting to civilian life:
As I strolled the streets of Mobile, civilian life seemed so strange. People rushed around in a hurry about seemingly insignificant things. Few seemed to realize how blessed they were to be free and untouched by the horrors of war. To them, a veteran was a veteran—all were the same, whether one man had survived the deadliest combat or another had pounded a typewriter while in uniform.{{Cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_war_battle_aftermath.htm |title=The War—Face of Battle |publisher=PBS |access-date=2010-04-04}}
Once an avid hunter, Sledge gave up his hobby; he found that he could not endure the thought of wounding a bird, and said that killing a deer felt like shooting a cow in a pasture. His father found him weeping after a dove hunt in which Sledge had to kill a wounded dove, and in the ensuing conversations he told his father he could no longer tolerate seeing any suffering. A key turning point in his life and career followed when his father advised him that he could substitute bird watching as a hobby. Sledge started to assist the conservation department in its banding study efforts,{{Cite book| last = Sledge| first = Eugene| title = China Marine| publisher = University of Alabama Press| date = May 2002|pages = 153–157| isbn = 0-8173-1161-0 }} the origin of his well-known passion for the science of ornithology.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}
When he enrolled at Auburn University, the clerk at the Registrar's office asked him if the Marine Corps had taught him anything useful. Sledge replied:
Lady, there was a killing war. The Marine Corps taught me how to kill Japs and try to survive. Now, if that don't fit into any academic course, I'm sorry. But some of us had to do the killing—and most of my buddies got killed or wounded.{{Cite book |title=China Marine: An Infantryman's Life after World War II, by E.B. Sledge, page 135 |isbn=0195167767 |last1=Sledge |first1=E. B. |year=2003 |publisher=Oup USA }}
Sledge married Jeanne Arceneaux in 1952 and the couple had two sons, John (born 1957) and Henry (a military historian, born 1965). He returned to Auburn in 1953, where he worked as a research assistant until 1955. That same year he graduated from API with a Master of Science degree in botany.{{cite web |last1=Trehub |first1=Aaron |title=Eugene B. Sledge |url=http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1796 |website=encyclopediaofalabama.org |publisher=Auburn University |access-date=25 February 2021}}
=Doctorate and later work=
From 1956 to 1960, Sledge attended the University of Florida and worked as a research assistant. He published numerous papers on helminthology and in 1956 joined the Helminthological Society of Washington.{{Cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1796|title=Eugene B. Sledge|access-date=2009-11-16|website=Encyclopedia of Alabama}} He received his doctorate in biology from the University of Florida in 1960.{{Cite web |url=http://content.lib.auburn.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/ebsledge&CISOPTR=158&CISOBOX=1&REC=18 |title=Eugene B. Sledge receiving his Ph.D. at the University of Florida |publisher=Auburn University Digital Library |access-date=2010-04-13}} He was employed by the Division of Plant Industry for the Florida State Department of Agriculture from 1959 to 1962.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thewareaglereader.com/2009/11/war-is-hell-eugene-b-sledge-1923-2001/|title=War is Hell: Eugene B. Sledge (1923-2001)|website=www.thewareaglereader.com|date=11 November 2009 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-16}}
In the summer of 1962, Sledge was appointed assistant professor of biology at Alabama College (now the University of Montevallo). In 1970, he became a professor, a position he held until his retirement in 1990. He taught zoology, ornithology, comparative vertebrate anatomy, and other courses during his long tenure there. Sledge was popular with his students, and organized field trips and collections around town. In 1989, he received an honorary degree and rank of colonel from Marion Military Institute.{{Cite web|url=http://content.lib.auburn.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ebsledge/id/127 |title=Marion Military Institute honorary rank for Eugene B. Sledge |access-date=2017-09-16 |website=Auburn University |last=Eugene B. Sledge Collection }}
=Death=
Bibliography
=''With the Old Breed''=
{{Main|With the Old Breed}}
At the urging of his wife, Sledge began to compile a memoir of his war experiences as a way to better help him cope. In 1981, he published With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa, a memoir of his World War II service with the United States Marine Corps. With the Old Breed was reprinted in 1990 (with an introduction by Paul Fussell) and again in 2007 (with an introduction by Victor Davis Hanson). In 1992, Sledge was featured in the documentary film Peleliu 1944: Horror in the Pacific.{{Cite web|url=http://americanherofilm.com/eugene-sledge/ |title=Eugene Sledge in Peleliu 1944: Horror in the Pacific }} In April 2007, it was announced that With the Old Breed, along with Robert Leckie's Helmet for My Pillow, would form the basis for the HBO series The Pacific.{{Cite web|access-date=2008-02-06 |url=http://www.hbo.com/films/news/ |date=2007-08-16 |title=Production Begins on 'The Pacific' |publisher=HBO }}
=''China Marine''=
{{Main|China Marine (memoir)}}
A second memoir, China Marine: An Infantryman's Life after World War II, was published posthumously. Its initial hardbound edition, with a foreword by Stephen E. Ambrose, was published without a subtitle on May 10, 2002, by the University of Alabama Press. In 2003, Oxford University Press republished it as a paperback edition with the full title, including the subtitle. The book discussed his postwar service in Peking (now known as Beijing), his return to Mobile, and his recovery from the psychological trauma of warfare.{{Cite web |url=http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/HistoryOther/MilitaryHistory/WWII/?view=usa&ci=9780195167764 |title=China Marine listing and review in the Oxford University Press catalogue |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |access-date=2010-04-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604151835/http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/HistoryOther/MilitaryHistory/WWII/?view=usa&ci=9780195167764 |archive-date=2011-06-04 }}
Awards and decorations
Sledge was entitled to campaign participation credit ("battle stars") for Capture and Occupation of the Southern Palau Islands (Peleliu), and Assault and Occupation of Okinawa Gunto.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}
His decorations and medals include:
| style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"
|colspan="3"| | |
| colspan="3"|{{ribbon devices|number=|type=award-star|ribbon=Combat Action Ribbon.svg|width= 106}} {{Ribbon devices|number=1|type=service-star|ribbon=United_States_Navy_Presidential_Unit_Citation_ribbon.svg|width=106}} | |
| {{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=U.S._Marine_Corps_Good_Conduct_Medal_ribbon.svg|width=106}}
|{{Ribbon devices|number=|type=service-star|ribbon=China_Service_Medal_ribbon.svg|width=106}} | {{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|ribbon=American Campaign Medal ribbon.svg|width=106}} |
| {{Ribbon devices|number=2|type=service-star|ribbon=Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal ribbon.svg|width=106}}
|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|ribbon=World War II Victory Medal ribbon.svg|width=106}} |{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|ribbon=Army_of_Occupation_ribbon.svg|width=106}} | |
| colspan="3" align="center"|106px |
| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;" |
| 1st row
| colspan="4"|Combat Action Ribbon | colspan="4"|Navy Presidential Unit Citation |
|---|
| 2nd row
| colspan="3"|Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal | colspan="3"|China Service Medal | colspan="3"|American Campaign Medal |
| 3rd row
| colspan="3"|Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two battle stars | colspan="3"|World War II Victory Medal | colspan="3"|Navy Occupation Service Medal |
| colspan=10 | United States Marine Corps Rifle Sharpshooter badge |
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{Find a Grave|26961209|access-date=2015-02-26}}
- {{Cite web|access-date=February 6, 2008 |url=http://www.lib.auburn.edu/archive/find-aid/096.htm |title=Guide to the Eugene B. Sledge Papers, RG 96
|author=Ullrich, Dieter C. |date=August 2003 |publisher=Auburn University}}
- {{Cite web |access-date=March 18, 2010 |url=http://ww2db.com/read.php?read_id=21 |title=With the Old Breed—at Peleliu and Okinawa review by Bryan Hiatt for the World War II Database}}
- {{Cite web |access-date=March 18, 2010 |url=http://diglib.auburn.edu/collections/ebsledge |title=Eugene B. Sledge Collection in the Auburn University Digital Library}}
- {{Cite web |access-date=March 18, 2010 |url=http://www.lib.auburn.edu/archive/find-aid/096.htm |title=Finding aid to the Eugene B. Sledge Papers in the Auburn University Special Collections & Archives Department}}
- {{Cite web |access-date=March 18, 2010 |url=http://www.studsterkel.org/gwar.php |title=Studs Terkel audio interview with E.B. Sledge (6 parts) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100329024759/http://www.studsterkel.org/gwar.php |archive-date=March 29, 2010 }}
- {{Cite web |access-date=March 18, 2010 |url=http://www.alabamaliterarymap.org/author.cfm?AuthorID=18 |title='E. B. Sledge' in This Goodly Land: Alabama's Literary Landscape |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100914081637/http://www.alabamaliterarymap.org/author.cfm?AuthorID=18 |archive-date=September 14, 2010 |url-status=dead }}
- {{Cite web |access-date=March 18, 2010 |url=http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson072507.html |title=Victor Davis Hanson's introduction to the 2007 edition of With the Old Breed |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100103045651/http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson072507.html |archive-date=January 3, 2010 }}
- {{Cite web |access-date=March 18, 2010 |url=https://www.pbs.org/thewar/detail_224.htm |title=Photograph of EB Sledge – PBS Media Gallery|website=PBS }}
{{Authority control}}
{{The Pacific (miniseries)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sledge, Eugene}}
Category:United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II
Category:20th-century American memoirists
Category:Auburn University alumni
Category:Deaths from cancer in Alabama
Category:Deaths from stomach cancer in the United States
Category:Marion Military Institute alumni
Category:Military personnel from Mobile, Alabama
Category:United States Marine Corps non-commissioned officers
Category:University of Florida alumni
Category:University of Montevallo faculty
Category:Writers from Mobile, Alabama