Helmet for My Pillow - Robert Leckie

Helmet for My Pillow

By Robert Leckie

  • Release Date: 1989-04-01
  • Genre: History
4.5 Score: 4.5 (From 358 Ratings)

Description

“A grand and epic prose poem . . . The purely human experience of war in the Pacific, written in the graceful imagery of a human being who—somehow—survived.”—Tom Hanks

See Robert Leckie's story in the HBO miniseries The Pacific


Here is one of the most riveting first-person accounts ever to come out of World War II. Robert Leckie enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in January 1942, shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In Helmet for My Pillow we follow his odyssey, from basic training on Parris Island, South Carolina, all the way to the raging battles in the Pacific, where some of the war’s fiercest fighting took place. Recounting his service with the 1st Marine Division and the brutal action on Guadalcanal, New Britain, and Peleliu, Leckie spares no detail of the horrors and sacrifices of war, painting an unvarnished portrait of how real warriors are made, fight, and often die in the defense of their country. 

From the live-for-today rowdiness of marines on leave to the terrors of jungle warfare against an enemy determined to fight to the last man, Leckie describes what war is really like when victory can only be measured inch by bloody inch. Woven throughout are Leckie’s hard-won, eloquent, and thoroughly unsentimental meditations on the meaning of war and why we fight. Unparalleled in its immediacy and accuracy, Helmet for My Pillow will leave no reader untouched. This is a book that brings you as close to the mud, the blood, and the experience of war as it is safe to come.

Reviews

  • Recommended

    5
    By Ashley Marks
    At first I picked this book because I was forced to read a book off the commandants reading list. This book quickly caught and held my attention and made it hard to put down. This is an excellent first hand experience written book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a in depth look of what it was like as a military personnel during World War II and the daily encounters going through the battles of Guadalcanal and Peleliu.
  • .

    5
    By Myersboys
    Thank you boys.
  • Thank you Robert

    5
    By Fleshwounds
    I know Robert has passed on, but thank god we had such men fight our wars for us. I finished watching The Pacific and it and Band of Brothers have forever changed my life. Thank you for serving our great country Robert. I know your still with us in spirit. God bless you. Eric Koenig Burleson, Texas

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