Eugene B. Sledge was born on November 4, 1923 and grew up at Georgia Cottage in Mobile, Alabama. The great-grandson of Confederate officers, Sledge was bookish and frail as a child. However, his physician father brought him up to be accustomed to the outdoors. Having learned to fish and hunt from his father, he was fond of venturing outdoors into the woods with Sidney Phillips, his best friend.[1]
After Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941, Sledge wished to join the Marines with Phillips. But, according to Phillips he had been delayed in school due to rheumatic fever.[2] A residual rheumatic heart murmur prevented him from joining up at that time and Phillips went off to the recruitment post without him.[3] Sledge graduated from Murphy High School in Mobile in May 1942, and entered Marion Military Institute in Marion, Alabama, that fall.[4]


Sledge enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in December 1942 to train as an officer, but in order not to "miss the war" he joined as an enlisted man and was eventually assigned to Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division (K/3/5). He served as a Private First Class in the Pacific Theater and saw combat as a 60 mm mortarman[5] at Peleliu and Okinawa. When fighting grew too close for effective use of the mortar he served other duties such as stretcher bearer[5] and providing rifle fire.[6]
During his service, Sledge kept notes of what happened in his pocket sized New Testament. When the war ended, he took these notes and compiled them into the memoir that was to be known as With the Old Breed. After being posted to Beijing (then known as Peiping), China after the war, he was discharged from the Marine Corps in February 1946 with the rank of Corporal.[7]


After the war, Sledge attended Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now Auburn University)[8] where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in the summer of 1949. Sledge, like many other war veterans, had a hard time readjusting to civilian life. “As I strolled the streets of Mobile, civilian life seemed so strange,” Sledge wrote. “People rushed around in a hurry about seemingly insignificant things. Few seemed to realize how blessed they were to be free and untouched by the horrors of war. To them, a veteran was a veteran – all were the same, whether one man had survived the deadliest combat or another had pounded a typewriter while in uniform.”[9]
Once an avid hunter, Sledge gave up his hobby. He found that he could not endure the thought of wounding a bird and said that killing a deer felt like shooting a cow in a pasture. His father found him weeping after a dove hunt where Sledge had to kill a wounded dove and in the ensuing conversations he told his father he could no longer tolerate seeing any suffering. A key turning point in his life and career followed when his father advised him that he could substitute bird watching as a hobby. Sledge started to assist the conservation department in its banding study efforts,[10] the origin of his well known passion for the science of ornithology.


When he came to enroll at Auburn University, the female at the register office asked him if the Marine Corps taught him anything useful. Sledge replied saying "Lady, there was a killing war. The Marine Corps taught me how to kill Japs and try to survive. Now, if that don't fit into any academic course, I'm sorry. But some of us had to do the killing -- and most of my buddies got killed or wounded."[11] He found his salvation in science, it kept the flashbacks of Peleliu and Okinawa at bay. Close, constant study of nature prevented him from going mad. However, the war stayed with him, and finally at the urging of his wife, he began to put his thoughts on paper, at last allowing him to put his horrors behind him. 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 published numerous papers on helminthology and in 1956 joined the Helminthological Society of Washington.[4] He received his doctorate in biology from the University of Florida in 1960.[12] 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, a position he held until his retirement in 1990. He taught zoology, ornithology, comparative vertebrate anatomy and other courses during his long tenure there. Sledge was popular with his students, organizing field trips and collections around town. Eugene Sledge died after a long battle with stomach cancer in 2001.[13]


Robert Leckie
December 18, 1920(1920-12-18) – December 24, 2001 (aged 81)

Nickname： Lucky
Place of birth： Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Allegiance：   United States of America
Service/branch： United States Marine Corps
Years of service： 1942 - 1945?
Rank：   Private First Class
Unit： 2nd Battalion 1st Marines
Battles/wars： World War II
* Battle of Guadalcanal
* Battle of Cape Gloucester
* Battle of Peleliu
Awards： Purple Heart
Navy & MC Commendation Medal w/ Combat V
Other work： Writer


John Basilone
November 4, 1916(1916-11-04) – February 19, 1945 (aged 28)

Nickname： "Manila John"
Place of birth： Buffalo, New York
Place of death： Iwo Jima, KIA
Place of burial： Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance：   United States
Service/branch： United States Marine Corps
United States Army
Years of service： 1934-1937 (U.S. Army)
1940-1945 (USMC)
Rank：   Gunnery Sergeant
Unit： 1st Battalion, 7th Marines
Battles/wars： World War II
*Battle of Guadalcanal
*Battle of Iwo Jima
Awards： Medal of Honor
Navy Cross
Purple Heart


While on Guadalcanal his fellow Marines gave him the nickname "Manila John" due to his former service in the Philippines.[3] On the night of October 24–25, 1942 his unit engaged the Japanese in the Lunga area when their position came under attack by a regiment of approximately 3,000 soldiers. The Japanese forces began a frontal attack using machine-guns, grenades and mortars against the American heavy machine-guns. Basilone commanded two sections of machineguns that fought for the next 48 hours until only Basilone and two other men were still able to continue fighting. Basilone moved an extra gun into position and maintained continual fire against the incoming Japanese forces. He repaired another machine-gun and personally manned it, holding the defensive line until replacements arrived. With the continuous fighting, ammunition became critically low and supply lines were cut off. Basilone fought through hostile lines and returned with urgently needed ammunition for his gunners. By the end of the battle, the Japanese regiment was virtually annihilated. For his actions during this battle he received the United States military's highest award for bravery, the Medal of Honor.[4]
Afterwards Private First Class Nash W. Phillips, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, recalled from the battle for Guadalcanal: "Basilone had a machine gun on the go for three days and nights without sleep, rest or food. He was in a good emplacement, and causing the Japanese lots of trouble, not only firing his machine gun but also using his pistol."[3]


After receiving the Medal of Honor he returned to the United States and participated in a war bond tour. His arrival was highly anticipated and publicized and his hometown held a parade in his honor when he returned. The homecoming parade occurred on Sunday, September 19, 1943 and drew a huge crowd with thousands of people, including politicians, celebrities, and the national press. The parade made national news in Life magazine and Fox Movietone News.[5] After the parade he toured the country raising money for the war effort and achieved celebrity status. He appreciated the admiration but felt out of place and wanted to return to life as a Marine so he requested to go back to the war. The Marine Corps denied his request and he was told he was needed more on the home front. He was offered a commission, but he turned it down and later offered an assignment as an instructor but refused it as well. He requested again to return to the war and this time the request was approved. He left for Camp Pendleton, California for training on December 27, 1943. While stationed at Camp Pendleton he met his future wife Lena Mae Riggi, a Sergeant in the Marine Corps Women's Reserve. They were married at St. Mary's Star of the Sea Church in Oceanside on July 10, 1944, with a reception at the Carlsbad Hotel. They honeymooned at her parents' onion farm in Portland.[6] He requested a return to the fighting in the Pacific theatre.[6]


Iwo Jima
After his request to return to the fleet was approved, he was assigned to Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 27th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division during the invasion of Iwo Jima. On February 19, 1945 he was serving as a machine-gun section leader in action against Japanese forces on Red Beach II. During the battle, the Japanese concentrated their fire at the incoming Americans from heavily fortified blockhouses staged throughout the island. With his unit pinned down, Basilone made his way around the side of the Japanese positions until he was directly on top of the blockhouse. He then attacked with grenades and demolitions, single handedly destroying the entire strongpoint and its defending garrison. He then fought his way toward Airfield Number 1 and aided an American tank that was trapped in an enemy mine field under intense mortar and artillery barrages. He guided the heavy vehicle over the hazardous terrain to safety, despite heavy weapons fire from the Japanese. As he moved along the edge of the airfield, an exploding mortar shell instantly killed him. For his actions during the battle of Iwo Jima, he was posthumously approved for the Marine Corps' second highest decoration for bravery, the Navy Cross.[7]
His body was reinterred in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia and his grave can be found in Section 12, Grave 384, grid Y/Z 23.5.[8]


Medal of Honor citation
His Medal of Honor citation, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, reads:
The President of the United States in the name of The Congress takes pride in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR to
SERGEANT
JOHN BASILONE
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
for service as set forth in the following CITATION:
For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry in action against enemy Japanese forces, above and beyond the call of duty, while serving with the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division in the Lunga Area. Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on 24 and 25 October 1942. While the enemy was hammering at the Marines' defensive positions, Sgt. Basilone, in charge of 2 sections of heavy machine guns, fought valiantly to check the savage and determined assault. In a fierce frontal attack with the Japanese blasting his guns with grenades and mortar fire, one of Sgt. Basilone's sections, with its guncrews, was put out of action, leaving only 2 men able to carry on. Moving an extra gun into position, he placed it in action, then, under continual fire, repaired another and personally manned it, gallantly holding his line until replacements arrived. A little later, with ammunition critically low and the supply lines cut off, Sgt. Basilone, at great risk of his life and in the face of continued enemy attack, battled his way through hostile lines with urgently needed shells for his gunners, thereby contributing in large measure to the virtual annihilation of a Japanese regiment. His great personal valor and courageous initiative were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.[4]


Navy Cross citation
The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the NAVY CROSS posthumously to
GUNNERY SERGEANT
JOHN BASILONE
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
for service as set forth in the following CITATION:
For extraordinary heroism while serving as a Leader of a Machine-Gun Section, Company C, 1st Battalion, 27th Marines, 5th Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands, 19 February 1945. Shrewdly gauging the tactical situation shortly after landing when his company's advance was held up by the concentrated fire of a heavily fortified Japanese blockhouse, Gunnery Sergeant Basilone boldly defied the smashing bombardment of heavy caliber fire to work his way around the flank and up to a position directly on top of the blockhouse and then, attacking with grenades and demolitions, single handedly destroyed the entire hostile strong point and its defending garrison. Consistently daring and aggressive as he fought his way over the battle-torn beach and up the sloping, gun-studded terraces toward Airfield Number 1, he repeatedly exposed himself to the blasting fury of exploding shells and later in the day coolly proceeded to the aid of a friendly tank which had been trapped in an enemy mine field under intense mortar and artillery barrages, skillfully guiding the heavy vehicle over the hazardous terrain to safety, despite the overwhelming volume of hostile fire. In the forefront of the assault at all times, he pushed forward with dauntless courage and iron determination until, moving upon the edge of the airfield, he fell, instantly killed by a bursting mortar shell. Stouthearted and indomitable, Gunnery Sergeant Basilone, by his intrepid initiative, outstanding skill, and valiant spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of the fanatic opposition, contributed materially to the advance of his company during the early critical period of the assault, and his unwavering devotion to duty throughout the bitter conflict was an inspiration to his comrades and reflects the highest credit upon Gunnery Sergeant Basilone and the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country.[7]


Sgt Lena Mae Basilone, USMC(WR), widow of John Basilone, prepares to christen the destroyer USS Basilone (December 21, 1945)

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