Quotes from Eugene B. Sledge

If the country is good enough to live in, it's good enough to fight for." With privilege goes responsibility.

The other veteran said "Listen, mate, everybody gets scared, and anybody says he don't is a damn liar

Kick him in the balls before he kicks you in yours

In writing I am fulfilling an obligation I have long felt to my comrades in the 1st Marine Division, all of whom suffered so much for our country. None came out unscathed. Many gave their lives, many their health, and some their sanity. All who survived will long remember the horror they would rather forget. But they suffered and they did their duty so a sheltered homeland can enjoy the peace that was purchased at such high cost. We owe those Marines a profound debt of gratitude.

A man's ability to depend on his comrades and immediate leadership is absolutely necessary.

I am the harvest of man's stupidity. I am the fruit of the holocaust. I prayed like you to survive, but look at me now. It is over for us who are dead, but you must struggle, and will carry the memories all your life. People back home will wonder why you can't forget." During

Possibly I lost faith that politicians in high places who do not have to endure war's savagery will ever stop blundering and sending others to endure it.

We were unable to understand their attitudes until we ourselves returned home and tried to comprehend people who griped because America wasn't perfect or their coffee wasn't hot enough or they had to stand in line and wait for a train or bus.

I concluded that it was impossible for me to be killed, because God loved me. Then I told myself that God loved us all and that many would die or be ruined physically or mentally or both by the next morning and in the days following.

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye Who cheer when soldier lads march by, Sneak home and pray you'll never know The hell where youth and laughter go.*