At the Tapton CALF earlier this year I picked up a copy of "Helmet for my pillow" by Robert Leckie. Although the the TV series 'The Pacific' hadn't grabbed me as much as 'Band of Brothers', I knew this book was one of the ones used as a source so I thought it would be worth a look.
Leckie was a journalist by trade before he volunteered for the Marine Corps, and I was very pleasantly surprised by the book. It was first published in 1957 and I've generally found the 1950s memoirs of war veterans, be they literal or lightly fictionalised (like Mailed Fist, Warriors for the Working Day or The Cruel Sea), to be excellent.
This is excellently written, a really good read, and very moving. In lots of ways it is similar to Philp Caputo's 'A Rumour of War' about the USMC experience, although the latter is about Vietnam. Leckie had an eventful war, enlisting in 1942 and being trained as an assistant machinegunner before being sent to Guadalcanal where he served through the entire campaign. He eventually ended up in the battalion intelligence section and also fought in the Bismarck Islands and at Peleilau watching his friends die one by one. Some of the incidents in the book made it into the TV series, albeit rather modified, and other bits are skipped altogether. I found the lengthy account of their leave time in Australia after Guadalcanal particularly compelling.
Anyway, highly recommended, and I guess it can be picked up very cheaply as it is such an old book now. All in all I found it much better than the TV adaptation.
I'll add that to my reading list.. in the same vein I recommend this one by Leon Uris.. fiction but very good I thought.. https://www.fantasticfiction.com/u/leon-uris/battle-cry.htm
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve. I think the only Leon Uris books I've read have been Exodus and Mila 18.
DeleteHave to agree re The Pacific v Band of Bros, Martin, although that may also be my British heritage bias - I am just not really that interested in the war against the Japanese, period! I have recently been reading a series of different Red Army autobiographies and finding the Russian experience and view on the war an interesting change from the western allies. I just picked up "Ivans War" by Catherine Merridale, which, according to Anthony Beevor is "unprecedented in its approach, her research into the lives of red Army soldiers combined with her perception makes this a most fascinating and important work"
ReplyDeleteWell I have a bit of personal involvement in the Pacific War as my grandfather was captured on Java, but I found the TV series rather flat and unengaging. But yes, there are lots of good books on the Eastern Front from various viewpoints.
DeleteLeckie is excellent. I scored a free copy of the book written to accompany the TV series 'Pacific' and was pleasantly surprised: packed with good eyewitness material (especially for the war in the air) that isn't in the TV show. Worth a read.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ian. TV is just a very different format to the written word and is often rather light.
DeleteMartin,
ReplyDeleteFor what’s it worth, if you’re looking to delve deeper into USMC in the Pacific, “The Right Kind of War” by John McCormick is my absolute favorite.
It’s fiction, or rather “fiction,” written by a Marine that was in the unit in the book and fought in the campaigns in the book, so more of a “pseudo-memoir,” a term that will become more amusing if you read the book.
From my perspective, nothing captures Marine humor like this book, and yet it’s still absolutely heartbreaking.
V/R,
Jack
Thanks Jack. Quite a few WW2 memoirs appeared in "fiction" form after the war, perhaps it was felt to be less painful that way.
DeleteYes, no doubt. Exorcising demons while doing your best to disassociate…
DeleteIn any case, my favorite, about time to read it again.
V/R,
Jack