Eugene Sledge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eugene Sledge
November 4, 1923(1923-11-04) – March 3, 2001 (aged 77)
Image:Replace this image male.svg
Eugene Sledge
Place of birth Mobile, Alabama
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch United States Marine Corps
Years of service 1942 - 1946
Rank Corporal
Unit 3rd Battalion 5th Marines
Battles/wars World War II
*Battle of Peleliu
*Battle of Okinawa
Other work Professor of Biology, Author

Eugene Bondurant Sledge (November 4, 1923 – March 3, 2001) was a U.S. Marine, university professor, and author. His 1981 memoir With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa was, in part, the basis for Ken Burn's PBS documentary on World War II and for the upcoming HBO series on the Marine Corps in the Pacific Theater during World War II.

Contents

[edit] Background

In 1981, Sledge 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 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,[1] the successor to Band of Brothers. Filmmaker Ken Burns also drew heavily on Sledge's memoir for his 2007 PBS documentary on World War II, The War.[2]

[edit] Biography

Eugene B. Sledge was born on November 4, 1923 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 at MMI 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. He was discharged from the Marine Corps in February 1946 with the rank of Corporal.[3]

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 in the Department of Biology at the University of Montevallo, a position he held until his retirement in 1990. He was a respected teacher of zoology, ornithology, comparative vertebrate anatomy and other courses during his long tenure there.

Eugene B. Sledge died at age 77 in March 2001 after a long struggle with stomach cancer. A second memoir, China Marine: An Infantryman's Life after World War II, was published posthumously in 2002. China Marine discussed his postwar service in Beijing, his return home to Mobile and his recovery from the psychological trauma of warfare.

[edit] Book reviews

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Production Begins on 'The Pacific'. HBO (August 16, 2007). Retrieved on 2008-02-06.
  2. ^ Strauss, Gary Strauss (2007-09-20). Ken Burns' rush to capture voices of a fading generation in 'The War'. USA TODAY. Retrieved on 2008-02-06.
  3. ^ USMC discharge certificate

[edit] See also

United States Marine Corps Portal

[edit] References

[edit] External links