Part of TWER’s Veterans Day salute to Auburn’s men and women in uniform.
Eugene B. Sledge is pictured here sitting on his bunk in his tent soon after the battle of Okinawa in World War II. He is wearing the “thousand yard stare” of combat veterans who have seen serious fighting. Sledge fought in Company K-3-5 of the U.S. Marine Corps in two of the fiercest battles against the Japanese at Peleliu and Okinawa. He was one of the few veterans to come through both battles without a physical wound but his experiences would haunt him for many years. Sledge wrote about his combat experiences in a book titled “With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa” years later. This photograph is reproduced at the end of the book.
For much, much more, visit Auburn’s Euguene B. Sledge Collection.
Timeline (from Wikipedia):
• Eugene B. Sledge was born on November 4, 1923 and grew up at Georgia Cottage in Mobile, Alabama.
• He graduated from Murphy High School in Mobile in May 1942 and entered Marion Military Institute (MMI) in Marion, Alabama, that fall.
• Sledge enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in December 1942 to train as an officer, but in order not to “miss the war” he joined as an enlisted man and was eventually assigned to Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division (K-3-5). He served as a Private First Class in the Pacific Theater and saw combat at Peleliu and Okinawa.
• After being posted to China after the war, he was discharged from the Marine Corps in February 1946 with the rank of Corporal.
• After the war, Sledge attended Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now Auburn University) where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in the summer of 1949.
• 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.
• From 1956 to 1960 Sledge attended the University of Florida and worked as a research assistant. He received his doctorate in biology from the University of Florida in 1960. He was employed by the Division of Plant Industries for the Florida State Department of Agriculture from 1959 to 1962.
• 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.
• In 1981, Dr. Sledge published an account of his experiences during World War II in a book entitled “With the Old Breed.”
• Dr. Sledge died on March 3, 2001. A second memoir, “China Marine: An Infantryman’s Life after World War II”, was published posthumously in 2002.
Sledge on YouTube
From PBS’s “The War.” The narration is based from Sledge’s journal and included in his book “With the Old Breed”
The following links are for a lecture by Eugene B. Sledge presented at the Ludwig von Mises Institute’s “The Costs of War” seminar, the first full-scale war revisionism conference in the post-Cold War epoch. Presented at the Mises Institute, Auburn, Alabama, May 1994.
Part One/Part Two/Part Three/Part Four
Photos of Sledge from Auburn’s digital library (a small sampling)
Some of the men in Company K-3-5, 1st Marine Division. Eugene B. Sledge is in the center of the front row, with his dungaree cap pushed back; his buddy George Sarrett is behind his right shoulder. This is the company that Sledge fought with in the Pacific in World War II.
Sledge in his winter uniform gear during his posting to Peiping (Beijing), China, at the end of World War II. The picture was taken at Lantienchang or North West Airfield in Peiping on Nov. 23, 1945, to which Sledge’s unit was assigned for a weeklong tour of guard duty.
Sledge with some of his ornithology students at the University of Montevallo on a field trip to a bird farm outside of Asheville, Alabama. On the back of the photo Sledge notes they were “all excellent students!” From left to right are: Jim Kitson, unidentified student, E.B. Sledge, unidentified student, unidentified student, George Mursphree, Virgil Lugor, Rick Penny, and an unidentified female student in front.
Sledge with one of his dachshunds. This picture was taken in 1999.
Photos and descriptions from the Auburn University Digital Library’s Euguene B. Sledge Collection.
After watching the WW2 series, Pacific, I read the book that Mr Sledge wrote. It depicts the horror, waste and heroism in the Pacific campaign. We all owe the young men that participated in that effort so much. A stark difference to many of the attitudes in our country today.
I realy what to read the book but i cant.
In my country i cant find this book 🙁
you can get a copy of the ebook. just send me an email and ill send you a copy.
I do not know all the details ,,my aunts an uncles never talk about it,my uncle Corporal Cecil C. Stout !st Marine K- 3- 5 KIA @ battle of Okinawa may 5 1945,,,thanks for all the memoirs you are all heroes,semper fe
Here in Aztec New Mexico, Ive watched all the series of the Pacific, Ive also read a book that I highly recamend named {Islands Of The Damned}. it is about R.V. Burgin and Eugene Sledge is in his squad, a morater squad. Ive also have been wanting to be a Marine since i was 4 and ive got 5 years left to wait. Eugene has been somewhat of an insperation to me and my dad and grandpa SEMPER-FI
A vast selection of reproduction WW2 German uniforms,Waffen SS Camouflage,Winter reversible parka coats,smocks and service shirts ,tunics,overcoats,
I really liked the movie “Pacific Ocean” and I read the book aotel Eugene Sledge, but in Russia I can not find this book.
I have been reading with The Old Breed and it is the best book on WW2 in my personal oppinon. there is also a book called Islands of The Damned by R.V Burgin who served with Eugene Sledge in his morater squad and i think every one who sees this should read it . When i am of age i will join the Marine Core and earn the title.
only 4 more years september 27, 2011
I saw charles Stouts reply and i wanted to tell him that his uncle is a Hero to all of us and he will always be remembered by K-3-5 and to all of us.
To Corporal Cecil C. Stout
OOOOORRRRRAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!
Rest in Peace Corporal Cecil
He and his buddies a true Hero s who fought for us and each other.we owe them everything .
I think of what he and the other veterans went through every day and try not to take my life for granted.
Thank you Mr.sledge and k/3/5
Mr. Sledge was also an Auburn Phi Delt – important note.
This book is an accurate account of the horrors of warfare and some of the realities of what the guys on the front line encounter. It should be required reading for all officers in terms of what the “grunts” think and do in when they are up there doing the dirtywork.