An Infantryman's Life after World War II - China Marine

This is PFC Eugene Sledge's other book. "WITH THE OLD BREED AT PELLEAU AND OKINAWAY" was Gene Sledge's masterpiece that told the story of his combat in WWII. READ IT!! This was the story of occupation duty in North China after the end of WWII and his return to Alabama after the war. After watching THE PACIFIC miniseries on DVD, I wanted more depth of knowledge. Told from the rear ranks, this Old Marine Sergeant thoroughly enjoyed the story of the North China Marines, post WWII.

EB slege finished off the Marine Ground war in Peleliu, Okinawa and saw the worst things possible in those campaigns. Post war he is in China before the Mao killed millions to reeducate. It was a nice pace to read EB enjoying postwar Marine corps a little.

If you are hoping for something as gripping and quite frankly as terrifying as Sledge's previous "With The Old Breed", then you may be disappointed with this shorter book.
'China Marine" is a telling of what happened next, and picks up where the aforementioned leaves off.

Sledge is not sent home, despite his horrendous endurances on Pelileu and Okinawa but sent to China as a sort of peacekeeping mission during the post war transfer after Japan's capitulation after the atomic bombing.

It's very observational in tone and he describes his experiences in poverty-stricken China basically but well.
He does his guard duties, shops, goes sightseeing and meets local Chinese people, ...even learns the language to a degree.

There are a few tense moments, but nothing anywhere near as life-threatening happens here compared to his previous service, but it is very interesting to learn how Sledge manages to cope with what would now be termed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
No diagnosis back then and no treatment at all. Returning soldiers and marines were just expected to re-assimilate back into civilian life as if nothing had ever happened . Many fell all too readily into alcoholism, ....something which Sledge tries hard to avoid.

For me, one of the most poignant moments is when Sledge finally makes it back to his boy-hood hometown Mobile, and stands alone on the railway station, watching his wartime buddies he has fought with, saved and been saved by, pull away and he realises he may never see them again.
Yes he's come home to his family, but two years together under such appalling combat conditions with the almost constant threat of death have forged strong bonds between the men than may even surpass family ties.

He also describes well the inequality of the accolades given to (and sometimes usurped by) non-combatant personnel who served in "cushy" jobs often obtained politically.
These were equal to if not above those afforded the men who endured the greatest and most dangerous wartime battles in the hell-holes that were war in the Pacific.
His continuing delight in something as simple as a clean, dry pair of socks and a sheeted bed are touching, while civilians and those military personnel who never left America are whinging and whining about their lot.

Probably not a "stand-alone" read, but overall I think you have to read this if you have previously read the profoundly affecting "With the Old Breed".
That particular book has been one that has left the most lasting effect on me.

In the early 1980s, Eugene Sledge published a memoir of his time as a marine infantryman in WW2, entitled, With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa. In the ensuing decades, it has been acclaimed as possibly the best memoir from an enlisted man in the Pacific War. It portrays with unflinching candor the squalid and demoralizing conditions faced by the marine infantryman in the Pacific War, and chronicles the descent into barbarism that otherwise civilized young men must make when confronting a savage foe under such degrading circumstances. The narrative of With the Old Breed ends, appropriately enough, with the surrender of Japan, while Sledge is still on Okinawa in the battle's aftermath.

When Sledge first wrote out the manuscript which would become With the Old Breed, his narrative continued beyond Okinawa, to his time in China on occupation duty, through to his return to the United States and adjustment upon returning to civilian life. The editor/publisher chose to cut off With the Old Breed at the end of the war. This decision seems to have been a wise one. The portion of the narrative afterward would have been anticlimactic and taken some wind from the sails of With the Old Breed. Twenty years and many accolades later, the remainder of Sledge's narrative was published, under the title China Marine. I did not read it at the time because I assumed it would pale in comparison to With the Old Breed, and would be somewhat of an anticlimactic footnote to the earlier book. What did finally spark an interest in me to read China Marine was the 2010 release of the HBO miniseries, The Pacific, which is based in part on With the Old Breed. There were scenes in The Pacific depicting Sledge's life at points beyond the narrative of With the Old Breed that I assumed must be covered in China Marine. The narrative of The Pacific by necessity condenses Sledge's narrative, and skips entirely his time in China, but does show his return home, and his attempt to acclimate to civilian life.

Sledge's account of his time in China is interesting and fascinating. The war is over of course, but tension exists in China due to the animosity between Nationalist and Communist forces (and between the Communists and everyone else for that matter). There are even Japanese troops allowed to keep their weapons in order to guard against Communists. Sledge displays some anxiety, born of his recent combat experiences, when Nationalist artillery shells pass high over his outpost on a nightly basis, on their way to Communist positions in nearby mountains.

Sledge and his comrades are no longer on isolated Pacific islands, separated from civilization, but in the bustling, large historic city of Peiping (now known as Beijing). Most of his buddies take to the nightlife, going after booze and women. Sledge, the future college professor, prefers to spend his time in the Forbidden City, taking in the cultural attractions. He learns enough of Mandarin to be able to have simple conversations and conduct basic transactions. He is befriended by the prestigious Doctor Soong and family, and their friend, a Flemish priest named Father Marcel. Sledge goes regularly to the Soong residence where he, the Soongs and Father Marcel discuss intellectual topics and listen to classical music. The hospitality and friendship that the Soongs and Father Marcel show toward Sledge go a long way to help his transition from the grim ordeal of Pacific combat back into civilized society. Sledge goes so far as to write that meeting them was, "one of the happiest events of my entire life."

Once home, Sledge goes about pursuing an education and career. He takes some missteps, but eventually realizes, with his father's help, that science and academia are his niche. Two memorable scenes from The Pacific miniseries come from this section of the book. The first is his dove hunting trip with his father where he realizes that he no longer wants to be a hunter. The passage in the book is less dramatic than that depicted in the miniseries, but no less poignant. The second is his encounter with a college registrar, where it becomes evident that instead of anything that can be used for college credit, the only thing the Marine Corps qualified him to do was, "kill Japs."

Readers who have not read With the Old Breed are encouraged to do so before reading China Marine, since the two together make up a continuous narrative. Although not as starkly riveting as its predecessor, China Marine does continue a theme from With the Old Breed that was pervasive in the earlier book: the experiential gulf that exists between combat veterans and everyone else, including the majority of those in the armed forces, who did not serve in combat. Sledge expresses contempt for those veterans he calls "stateside commandos," who like to tell tall tales to impress girls, but never saw any real action. In a modern industrial war, where millions of men were mobilized, only a minority occupied the "sharp end." Sledge was one of them. He emerged unscathed in body, but not in mind. With the Old Breed and China Marine will together endure as a story of how a young man was swept into the maelstrom of Pacific War infantry combat, and through a gradual process returned to a fulfilling civilian life.

As others have commented, this is not as well written or interesting as the author's deservedly famous first book. It's a collection of snapshots, in chronological order, with some reflections on them from the perspective of 40 years later.
Still, I'm glad I read it. It provided a glimpse of closure from his horrible experiences. It also gave what I suspect is one of very few Western accounts of Beijing in 1946, just after WW II.
The TV series, The Pacific (Steven Spielberg), contained a few episodes from this book, when Sledge got back to the U.S. As with the other books used for the TV series, its version differs in small ways from what was in the book. The TV series transposed episodes and even minor characters. An example is Sledge's effort to register at a local college after the war. In both the book and TV, the registrar he talks to is very pretty. But in the book, he gives a whole little speech, while in the TV series he just snarls at her "Yeah, the Marines only taught me to kill Japs. And I'm real good at it!" I saw mention of a DVD in one of the reviews. I will track that down.
One more observation Sledge tries not to be bitter about the rear echelon troops who got just as much adulation, and in many ways better treatment, than the muddy and bloody combat troops like himself. But he clearly is still rather bitter, such as commenting several times about all the fake combat veterans he ran into. ("So how did it feel the first time you saw a buddy get blown up?") A study of military veterans in the 1980s shows that the time they spent in the military generally means that they don't keep up economically their civilian counterparts of the same age. (Basically, the civilians are learning useful skills while the military are not.) The GI bill was a somewhat successful effort to overcome this, but I can certainly see why Sledge was bitter that REMFs got the same GI Bill treatment that he did. (My father spent the whole war at Los Alamos, hunched over a soldering iron.)
Now, of course, the USA "outsources" all the horrible parts of our wars to a tiny fraction of our population. One result is that very few members of Congress have spent any time at all in the military - a huge change. In the post WW II period, the military veterans were more reluctant to go to war, and more more skeptical about DoD, than those with no experience.

This book is real. It lacks contrivance and secondary gain.

All to often, Hollywood and others in entertainment portray war in a glorious light (Let's kill the enemy and get on to the next scene, ain't we got adventure, ain't we got fun), or, even when they try to be grisly, they cannot paint an adequate picture. Books do better than movies for showing character. Movies will never compete with any well written book for nuance of spirit, of thought. After reading Sledge and others (Leckie, among them for this theater), we have a picture that reflects not only the stink, but the emotions felt and observed. That's why their books, Sledge's in particular, stand the tests of time. They discuss the fear, the horror, the dread, the feeling that the law of averages can only be cheated so many times. Even though physically unharmed, Sledge endured PTSD for decades. Like so many with the affliction, he never really came home. Place has little meaning when you're trapped in time, not an Apocalypse Now, but an Apocalypse Again that plays again and again, over and over, involuntarily, always unbidden. It's always Apocalypse still! Scarier than any horror movie, scarier than anything contrived, the real horror of their experience shows us how blessed it is inside these borders.

As I write this, Osama bin Laden's termination garners much discussion in the press, courtesy of Seal Team Six. I would not want to offend those who serve well and complete a successful mission. But in the context of war as hell, I note how few discuss the sacrifice of Seal Team 10 (Lone Survivor, by Luttrell). Although admittedly this ranks as cynical, sarcastic speculation, I guess that does not make good election fodder for either partisan side of the Congress. Like Hollywood, why would our own elected officials, officials who most likely shirk sacrifice inflicted upon others and make sure to get their own paychecks even if the government shuts down, change their ways? They want to bask in a contrived glory in which few of them (there may be somewhere less than 2% who actually have been shot at, lost beloved friends in combat, pardon my high estimate) would ever subject themselves. Sledge's book discusses the fear, the carnage. Instead of using what he endured only to line his pockets with commercial goods or advance his political career, we see a man who recounts, who remembers, who endures, who seeks refuge in God, nature, friendship, and common sense. He comports himself as a man to deliver a warning, trying to remember those whom he loved. You just need to look at the story of his life to see that. I offer my humble respects that a PFC Marine shows more consistency and integrity than the vast majority of his elders and the elite of his beloved country. He lived the credo of "Semper fidelis." He always stood faithful to the memories of his comrades, his country. When he returned home, he abstained from hurting his fellow men and living creatures. That he abstained from anger, per his father's advice, also stands as a remarkable achievement, understood only by those who feel the anger of PTSD and try to control it.

More than most, those who serve on the front lines speak with deeds, not words, Sledge in particular. The story of their sacrifices, with their lives, with their pain, sustain the country. I type this after reading his book as we go into Memorial Day 2011. Such that it is, it's my Memorial homage.

I am a civilian. I've never served in uniform; I've never seen combat. After Sledge's comments about those who endure on the front manage to complain less then those in safe desk jobs, much less than civilians, I cannot offer my homage as a brother in arms. I hope he would consider this thank you note as one from a would be brother. Such that I am, I offer this book discusses the horror or war without overstatement, without self pity, without glossing over much of anything. Although always out of uniform, I have had the honor of working with many who endured combat. Many of the best of them had common elements of the better parts of character revealed in this book.

Some of the best of them never came home.

Be safe, ye of the current front lines.

Warm regards and best Memorial Day wishes.

China Marine Gene Sledge is an old friend although I've never met him. Any book by him is more than worth the few dollars it would take to own it. Most Americans have no knowledge of the fact that immediately following WW II 60,000 U. S. Marines were sent into North China. Their real purpose was to keep that area from falling into the hands of Mao Tse Tsung's 8th Route Army when the Japanese withdrew. We Marines were to fill the gap, and then turn this critical ground that contained much of the coal available in China. The Russians raised hell in the UN about the US not repatriating the Jap troops to their mainland. The US objective was to maintain them in place as additional insurance in order to keep Mao's ChiComs in Manchuria the caves of Yemen where they had been kept in check by the Japs during WW II. With pressure from the UN, the last of the Japs and Koreans were sent home by about June of 1946, leaving a dwindling number of Marines to literally "hold the fort." Essentially, this is what Sledge writes about. Imagine to have survived the battles for Peleliu and Okinawa only to be sent to North China where too many Marines were to be killed. Sledge, because of his time overseas, was able to leave China early in '46, as I recall. Those of us who had arrived late to the Pacific Theater during WW II would remain guarding the railroads and bridges that moved the coal. And so, you say: "How come I haven't read anything about this? It was not mentioned in my History classes in high school or college."
I have a story on my web site that may interest you: [...]%20Ho/Hsin%20Ho.htm This story concerns one incident that occurred in April, 1947, shortly before the Marines were withdrawn from that area by our State Department. In my case I ended up in Tsingtao on the Shantung Peninsula, until 25Sep48 when I was commissioned a 2dLt and ordered stateside. Within a few months of my leaving China Chiang Kai Shek and his Kuomingtao withdrew to Formosa (Taiwan). My old regiment, the 5th Marines, oversaw the withdrawal of US and other civilians from Shanghai in early '49, and China was from that time under the control of Mao and the Chicoms. I and many other Marines saw a great deal of the latter when they intervened in the Korean War in November/December '50. We Marines were in and around the Chosin Reservoir. The US public knows little of the Korean War, but most at least connect the term Chosin Reservoir to that conflict.
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CHINA MARINE is a unique and fascinating book. If you are a Marine book reader like me or a WWII fan then you probably read or should read HELMET FOR MY PILLOW or WITH THE OLDER BREED by Sledge. They are classic Marine histories from the Pacific. In CHINA MARINE Sledge leaves the action behind to give us insight into the occupation of China at the end of the war and to coming home and going back to civilian life, often a very, very hard thing to do. As always Sledge is open, honest and perceptive in his writing. You should add this book to your reading list. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

I found this book to be highly informative as well as humbly written. (which shows much about the author's character as well as personality) Eugene Sledge writes about his adventures in China while stationed there with the rest of k/3/5 (an oft overlooked time in Marine Corps history) and about his experiences in the post-war homecoming. The part about him registering for classes made me gain a new appreciation for what vets talk about when they say, "the hardest part is often surviving the surviving."

Read this book, you won't be disappointed.

In this book, the Marine E. B. Sledge details his time in China during 1946, immediatley following his wartime experience in the Pacific during WW II (which he documented in "With the Old Breed"). His description of a nation (China) on the brink of catastrophe is eloquent. I think he was spared from combat death, if for no other reason, to write these books. I would have liked to met Mr. Sledge, shook his hand, and congratulated him on his service and his humanity.

The book reminded me of Herbert Werner's Iron Coffins and Guy Sajer's The Forgotten Soldier. All are written in a remarkably sensitive manner. I particularly appreciated the author's candid discussion of his "decompression" period, once returned to civilian life, and how he dealt w/ his PTSD.

This book satisfies many unanswered questions left hanging at the end of Eugene Sledge's first memoirs. It offers a little known insite into what life was like for occupation Marines in post-war China. Well written. Worth the read.

A weird thing happened with his book: the cover is the right one but inside there is another book titled "Common Morality", by Bernard Gert, Oxford Press 2004ISBN 978-0-19-531421-2. I guess someone made a mistake in the printing house. I do not know what to do with it now. It is not what I like to read.

After reading With Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa I had to read China Marine. I will never be able to comprehend how these veterans endured all that they did. If you want a serious dose of reality about what war is like and all that goes with it, read both of these books! I am so humbled now that I've read Mr. Sledge's books. It really put things into perspective. The hardest thing for me will be not to lose that perspective for the rest of my life. I've lived such an easy life and am so lucky to not have to have experienced anything like this.