Author: E. B. Sledge

A native of Mobile, Alabama, Eugene Bondurant Sledge (1923–2001) enlisted in the Marines in 1942 and was assigned as a mortarman. His unit saw some of the most intense fighting in the Pacific Theater during World War II, fighting at both the Battle of Peleliu and the Battle of Okinawa. Following his discharge in 1946, Sledge studied at Auburn University and received a bachelor’s degree in business administration and later a master’s in botany. He then attended the University of Florida and received a doctorate in zoology. He taught at the University of Montevallo for most of his academic career, retiring in 1990. However, he is best known for his war-writing, particularly his 1981 memoir With the Old Breed, which was used as source material for Ken Burns’ PBS documentary, The War, as well as the 2010 miniseries The Pacific.

Brave Men Lost

E. B. Sledge

In his memoir, With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa (1981), Eugene Bondurant Sledge (1923–2001), a United States Marine and afterwards a professor of biology, provides a first-hand account of his combat experiences in the Pacific theater during World War II.