Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific

A Marine Who Was There

Veterans of combat are affected in different ways by their experiences in war: Some are traumatized for life by the ordeal, and try their best to forget all of it; others re-up/volunteer to go back to the fighting if they are physically able. Bob Leckie became an avid military historian, examining wars from Desert Storm back to the French & Indian War. A burgeoning journalist before enlisting, Leckie knew how to tell a story. I found him just about as objective as a writer can be, considering that he himself is a part of the story.

Many will probably watch HBO's miniseries, the Pacific (partly based on this book), without reading Leckie's memoir. They owe it to themselves to read the source material. Many things are (out of necessity) condensed, changed or omitted when adapting to the screen. For instance, during the R&R in Australia, Leckie caroused with a few different women, who the film makers had to amalgamate for the camera.

The Pacific War was a battle not just against the Japanese, but against jungle rot; tropical diseases; horrendous weather; dehydration; and insanity. The biggest differences between Vietnam and the island-hopping campaign during WWII were 1) Commanders in the field, right up to MacArthur, were allowed to pursue victory and 2) The fighting men who returned home after WWII were appreciated by a grateful nation. The horrors endured by both generations was comparable.

Nonetheless, there are also lighthearted moments, humorous moments, tedious segments...all in all, representative of the wartime military experience.

17 out of 17 people found this review helpful.

Good book by a man who was there

This book is a great read. I gave it 4 stars because Leckie is a writer by trade, so the book feels a little more polished than if it were just written by an ordinary soldier with a story to tell. Still a very good read you will not regret.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

For those of you who don't believe me....

For those of you how don't believe me, one of Robert Leckie's sons teaches Social Studies goes to my middle school in Chester, New Jersey. I have read this book, and it is one of the greatest pieces of literature I have ever read, and even though I am only in 7th grade, I have read my fair share of books. I highly recomend this book to anyone.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

How can you not be proud of our servicemen

This was a terrific read for anyone interested in what our servicemen go through to give us our freedom. A great read,if you have any interest in history and WWII.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Thoughts

"Helmet for my Pillow" by Robert Leckie combines all of Leckie's past war expriences from World War II. The book had all of Lecki's squad members and the tales in which they when island hopping after the Japanes attacked Pearl Harbor. The squad started on Parris Island and went to Okinawa and continues to make their wa to the west in the Pacific Islands.Leckie is one of the only few remaining members of his squad left after the war ended. The book was overall a well tuned experience and would be reccommended to most anyone.
It seemed like the book was a cliche war story about World War II and did not have much of a difference than any other person's experience in fighting the war. Most people go through the same feelings, like the war would never end and the fear of dying in battle. Although there was aa few negetive feelings towards the book, the positives, such as the actions parts while the squad was island hopping, or maybe a close friend being injured which takes the reader on an emotional spiral of; somber, adrenaline, fear, and many other emotions. Overall, the positives out weigh the negetinves. One of the major negetive influences of the book is the long chapters when the squad is sitting around at night talking about their life back home and their feeling towards the war.
Some of the themes that play a major role in the book which effects the characters the most would be: strength through hardship, personal desire to find a way through the war, and the unity of a single squad to help each other out in times of pain and suffering. The protagonist continually had to stay strong through the battles the sqaud encountered. Each individual of the book had to strive to find some way to keep fighting. All the members of the team help one another to find peace and content when facing an emotional challenge.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Good firsthand account of a private during WWII in the Pacific

I was inspired to read this book after watching the Pacific miniseries. The thing that is lacking in Leckie's book is the details of the battles. This was not a problem with E.B. Sledge's book, With The Old Breed, which I found to be superior to Leckie's book. With Sledge's book you could feel the horrors of being on the front lines in battle whereas this book seems to skim the surface. I do recommend this book but not as wholeheartedly as two other books that I have read dealing with the Pacific war, With The Old Breed and Unbroken.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Chantelle

Tylermember me?

no thanks

I found the writing so awkward that I had difficulty becoming absorbed in the story

Ugh! painful read

This is considered a "classic war story" ?

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Different

I read this after I read "With the Old Breed" as I understand that these two books were the basis for the movie "The Pacific". This book wasn't really what I expected. While the other books in this genre dealt mainly with the battles this book tended to focus more on the general life of this marine (and more specifically how much trouble he got into). It was interesting but in many ways I felt like I was reading a sports columnist. (Which I believe Leckie actually was for a time...)

Great book and account of history

I am one who really likes reading war books written in the first person. I believe Leckie's account of the war in the Pacific is something everyone should read and appreciate.

Poor

Horrible dissappointment for an avid WWII historian. Immature storyline includes fraternity-like partying on shore with drunkenness and beyond. Nothing more than a soap opera style of writing that blemishes the heroic behavior of thousands of brave men. Don't waste your money!

Only They Knew, Now You Can Discover the War

This one will make your gutts roll. A great first hand account of death and victory during World War II. Once begun you won't want to set it down. Such brave men, such Valor. Semper Fi.

Classic Memoir: A Helmut For My Pillow, A Helmet For My Heart

World War Two Classic: A Helmet For My Pillow, A Helmet For My Heart
Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific, Robert Leckie, Bantam Books, 305 pp., 1957, 2010 edition, 16.00.

First published in 1957, Helmet for My Pillow is the World War Two memoir of Robert Leckie, United States Marine Corps veteran and military historian. Born in 1920, Philadelphia Pennsylvania native Leckie served in the Pacific Theatre with the First Marine Division as a machine gunner and intelligence scout during the Battle of Guadalcanal and later campaigns. One of eight children born into an Irish Catholic family began his writing career, at age 16 as a sports writer for The Bergen Evening Record in New Jersey.

In 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Leckie enlisted in the Marines. He was assigned to H Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. He deployed to Guadalcanal, Australia, New Guinea, and Cape Gloucester and participated in every major First Marine Division campaign except Okinawa. Drill instructors, disappearing individuality, drunkeness, and new comrades enter Leckie's life during boot camp in MCRD Parris Island, South Carolina, and then during his first post at New River, North Carolina.

Each take their toll on Leckie: heavy combat at Guadalcanal, jungle patrols in New Guinea, bread-and-water in the brig twice, more months of combat at Point Glouster, assignment to the psychiatric ward for a month, more combat at Bloody Nose Ridge, and blast concussion.

His comrades are Artist, Chuckler, Commando, Hoosier, Ivy League, Runner, Souvenir, and Straight Talk. Officers steal his cigars and his foot locker. Like William Manchester's Goodbye, Darkness Leckie's memoir offers brilliant descriptions, an amazing use of language, and masterful storytelling. The 2010 HBO mini-series The Pacific was adapted in large part from Helmet for My Pillow, and Eugene Sledge's With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa.

Leckie's memoir is literature. Leckie's work is fascinating, compelling, highly descriptive writing by one who lived through what hell mankind could make. The conclusion of the story is humane and heartfelt with reflections of the use of the atomic bomb, the loss of comrades, and the nature of sacrifice. A few weeks ago David McCullough prescribed a remedy for the dearth of knowledge about American history among citizens, young and old. He wishes teachers would create history lab exercises for students much like National History Day competitions. CWL would teach history through biography and on the list would be Robert Leckie's Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific

Great Book, insight to the real horrors and suffering of war

Great book by Robert Leckie. Gave great insight into what the soldiers felt and thought during the war in addition to all they struggled through. Very easy to read and Leckie clearly is a gifted hero.

Great book

From a GREAT AMERICAN!! How to say thank you to these guys that gave up everything and went to war for our freedoms. Very entertaining, my only complaint is that it ended too soon!!

Excellent! Helmet should be on many summer reading lists!

After watching HBO's The Pacific, I had to read this book. I chose it for two purposes. The first was for my own enlightment. The second, most important, reason was a follow-up for the students I will have in class this summer. Last summer we read Flags of our Fathers and had many intelligent, eye-opening moments while reading it. The book was supported with as much background as I could fit in. I would like to continue this tradition so that my students will recognize why the people in the stories were the greatest generation. I think Helmet for my Pillow will be able to continue that tradition.

Insight into the horrors of war

This book is well written and painfully honest. In military service, not all enemies are the opposing army. Sometimes it's yourself and those you are with. This book explores Leckie's experiences in the Pacific, both against the enemy, Japan and his own demons.
This book is well written, but at times tough to get through. Leckie writes like the journalist he was, and that may be tough for some read. Aside from the sometimes overly newspapery writing, this book is a great read. A great piece of history that addresses the many facets of war. Much like what Jarhead was to the Gulf War, Helmet for my Pillow is to the war in the Pacific.

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