Quotessence
Home / Authors / Eugene B. Sledge Biography
Eugene B. Sledge

Eugene B. Sledge Biography

Author

Related Quotes

“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.”

SilenceDreams LostEnd Of WarP376
Book:With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa
Create image

“The men digging in on both sides of me cursed the stench and the mud. I began moving the heavy, sticky clay mud with my entrenching shovel to shape out the extent of the foxhole before digging deeper. Each shovelful had to be knocked off the spade, because it stuck like glue. I was thoroughly exhausted and thought my strength wouldn’t last from one sticky shovelful to the next. Kneeling on the mud, I had dug the hole no more than six or eight inches deep when the odor of rotting flesh got worse. There was nothing to do but continue to dig, so I closed up my mouth and inhaled with short shallow breaths. Another spadeful of soil out of the hole released a mass of wriggling maggots that came welling up as though those beneath were pushing them out. I cursed and told the NCO as he came by what a mess I was digging into. ‘You heard him, he said put the holes five yards apart.’ In disgust, I drove the spade into the soil, scooped out the insects, and threw them down the front of the ridge. The next stroke of the spade unearthed buttons and scraps of cloth from a Japanese army jacket in the mud—and another mass of maggots. I kept on doggedly. With the next thrust, metal hit the breastbone of a rotting Japanese corpse. I gazed down in horror and disbelief as the metal scraped a clean track through the mud along the dirty whitish bone and cartilage with ribs attached. The shoved skidded into the rotting abdomen with a squishing sound. The odor nearly overwhelmed me as I rocked back on my heels. I began choking and gagging as I yelled in desperation, ‘I can’t dig in here! There’s a dead Nip here!’ The NCO came over, looked down at my problem and at me, and growled, ‘You heard him; he said put the holes five yards apart.”

WarHorrorRevulsion
Book:With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa
Create image

“Earlier in the morning Company A, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines had attacked eastward into the ruins of Shuri Castle and had raised the Confederate flag. When we learned that the flag of the Confederacy had been hoisted over the very heart and soul of Japanese resistance, all of us Southerners cheered loudly. The Yankees among us grumbled, and the Westerners didn’t know what to do. Later we learned that the Stars and Stripes that had flown over Guadalcanal were raised over Shuri Castle, a fitting tribute to the men of the 1st Marine Division who had the honor of being first into the Japanese citadel.”

WarJapanWorld War IiWorld War 2PacificConfederateOkinawaConfederate FlagSouthernersFlagNorthernersStars And StripesShuriU S Flag
Book:With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa
Create image

“Until the millennium arrives and countries cease trying to enslave others, it will be necessary to accept one's responsibilities and be willing to make sacrifices for one's country - as my comrades did. As the troops used to say, "If the country is good enough to live in, it's good enough to fight for." With privilege goes responsibility.”

IfsTryingCountryEnoughUsedFightingResponsibilityAcceptingSacrificeWillingPrivilegeCeaseGood EnoughTroopsComradeMillennium
Author:Eugene B. Sledge
Create image

“To the non-combatants and those on the periphery of action, the war meant only boredom or occasional excitement, but 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.”

MadeWarActionFightingStruggleCivilizationHorrorSurvivalBoredMeatExcitementBoredomFierceSavagesAbyssOccasionalCasualtiesMeaning LifeVeneerPeripheryGrinderStruggle For Survival
Author:Eugene B. Sledge
Create image

“War is brutish, inglorious, and a terrible waste... The only redeeming factors were my comrades' incredible bravery and their devotion to each other. Marine Corps training taught us to kill efficiently and to try to survive. But it also taught us loyalty to each other - and love. That espirit de corps sustained us.”

TryingWarTaughtTerribleWasteTrainingAnd LoveBraveryIncrediblesLoyaltyDevotionFactorsMarineComradeTaught UsMarine CorpsRedeeming
Author:Eugene B. Sledge
Create image

“I am the harvest of man's stupidity. I am the fruit of the holocaust. I prayed like you to survive, but look at me now. It is over for us who are dead, but you must struggle, and will carry the memories all your life. People back home will wonder why you can't forget.”

PeopleMenLifeLooksWarHomeMemoriesForgetWonderStruggleLike YouFruitStupidityComing HomeAnti WarHolocaustHarvestLook At MeSurvivingBack HomeMarine CorpsPainful MemoriesPrisoner Of WarLook At Me Now
Book:With the Old Breed: The World War Two Pacific Classic
Create image