Eugene Sledge

Eugene Sledge
Corporal, U.S. Army

Eugene Bondurant Sledge, born on November 4, 1923, in Mobile, Alabama, lived a life of service, academic achievement and leadership. In his military career and later as an educator, Sledge demonstrated a deep commitment to his country and to the people around him. His marriage to Jeanne Arceneaux of Mobile in 1952 led to the blessings of two sons — John born in 1957 and Henry born in 1965. Sledge’s life is a testament to resilience and his lasting contributions across many fields can still be felt to this day.

A 1942 graduate of Murphy High School, Sledge enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in December of that year after entering the Marion Military Institute. After a brief stint at the Georgia Institute of Technology in an officers' training program, he left to serve in the ranks as an enlisted man. Sledge received basic training and was assigned as a mortarman to Company K, Third Battalion, Fifth Regiment, First Marine Division. Sledge saw heavy combat for the first time on the island of Peleliu in September 1944. Sledge's unit went into combat again in Okinawa on April 1, 1945. Sledge, known as "Sledgehammer" to his fellow marines, was in combat there for 82 days until the island was declared secured on June 23, 1945. Despite the heavy casualties in his unit, he survived the war without being physically wounded though the experience marked him for life. He would later pen his experiences in vivid detail through two influential memoirs.

In 1945, Sledge served in Beijing, China, as part of a U.S. occupation force. He was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps in February 1946 with the rank of corporal.

Sledge returned to Alabama and entered the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, earning a bachelor of science degree in business administration in 1949. On his father's advice, Sledge returned to Auburn and earned a master of science degree in botany, and then in 1960, he went on to graduate from the University of Florida with a doctorate in zoology. After working two years for the Florida State Department of Agriculture, he joined the biology faculty of Alabama College (now the University of Montevallo), where he taught introductory biology, physiology, and the history and philosophy of science, a favorite subject of his. He organized field trips and collecting expeditions around town and in neighboring counties and was regarded with affection by his colleagues and students. He joined the Helminthological Society of Washington in 1956 and published numerous articles on nematodes in scientific journals before retiring from Montevallo in 1990.

Sledge is best known not for his long academic career but as the author of two World War II memoirs: With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa and China Marine: An Infantryman's Life after World War II. Sledge kept notes in a pocket edition of the New Testament during his time in combat. With the Old Breed has earned wide recognition from historians and veterans as one of the best first-hand accounts of combat in the Pacific during World War II. Despite its raw honesty about the terrors of war, With the Old Breed is distinguished by Sledge's pride in his military service and his admiration for the bravery and sacrifices of his comrades.

Sledge's World War II memoirs have influenced many other writers. Pulitzer Prize–winning author Louis "Studs" Terkel interviewed Sledge for his renowned oral history collection "The Good War" (1984). More recently, filmmaker Ken Burns drew heavily on Sledge's memoirs for his 2007 documentary on World War II, and HBO used With the Old Breed, and Robert Leckie's Helmet for My Pillow as the basis for a 2010 miniseries that was the successor to the 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers.

Eugene Sledge may no longer be with us but his legacy endures. His life of military service, academic achievement and leadership left a lasting mark on all who knew him. As a recipient of the Heroes Remembered Award, Sledge continues to inspire others to live a life of service and dedication.