Commentary by Justin Taylan
Phillips Home
The episode begins with Sid Phillips on leave at home in Mobile, Alabama and making a surprise visit to Eugene Sledge's parents. Phillips wrote about the visit in his memoir You'll Be Sor-ree! "Mrs. Sledge had called before I arrived home to offer me one of their cars to drive while I was home... The next day after I had arrived, Mother drove me out to the Sledge home." For the remainder of his visit, Phillips dated his high school sweetheart, Mary Houston. The two were married after the war.
Attack Across Peleliu Airfield
On Peleliu, the 1st Marine Division was suffering from heat exhaustion from a lack of water and temperatures reaching 105-115 degrees. From the island's high ground, the Japanese were able to fire at their positions. During lulls in combat, Sledge manages to jot notes in the pages of a small Bible he carried. Years later, these notes were expanded into his memoir, With The Old Breed.
The Marines were ordered to attack across Peleliu Airfield in the face of intense enemy fire. Sledge and Sanfu have a close call when a shell explodes near them. The on screen action was adapted directly from his description in With The Old Breed "For me the attack resembled World War I movies I had seen of suicidal Allied infantry attacks through shell fire on the Western Front. I clenched my teeth, squeezed my carbine stock, and recited over and over to myself, 'The Lord is my shepard'... A large shell exploded to my left with a flash and roar... On my right Snafu let out a grunt and fell as the fragment struck him... Fortunately, the fragment spent much of its force, and luckily hit against Snafu's heavy web pistol belt." After the attack, Sledge is nicknamed "Sledgehammer". In his memoirs, he mentions the nicknamed long before Peleliu.
Leckie Wounded
During the airfield attack, Robert Leckie was wounded by the concussion from an ammunition dump that was hit by artillery fire. Leckie wrote in Helmet For My Pillow "The war ended for me... I must have stumbled about... They dragged me like a dummy through the sand, dragged me to the doctor... I began to feel shame, others were baldy wounded, I was intact.".
The episode ends with Leckie recovering aboard a hospital ship. From the safety of the ship, he was able to observe the battle from a distance, writing "I gazed in morbid fascination at Peleliu a mile or so away. There was still fighting... each day the news was bad, we were winning, but at a terrible price."
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Phillips wedding on April 15, 1946
Umurbrogol (Bloody Nose Ridge) hit by napalm by F4U Corsair
Marines advance across Peleliu Airfield
Marines take cover near ruins on Peleliu Airfield
Wounded being evacuated from Peleliu
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