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Filosofická Fakulta Masarykovy Univerzity Masarykova univerzita Filozofická fakulta Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky Bakalářská diplomová práce Monika Křižánková 2014 2014 Křižánková Monika 2014 Monika Křižánková Hřbet Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Monika Křižánková Pacific War Experience of E.B. Sledge and R. Leckie: US Marines, Suffering Heroes, and Brave Victims Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Mgr. Dušan Kolcún 2014 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author’s signature 1 I would like to thank my supervisor, Mgr. Dušan Kolcún; for his insightful comments, suggestions, and advice that were guiding my every step, thought, and word. But the greatest and the deepest gratitude is dedicated to my father who introduced me to the compelling stories hidden behind names such as Guadalcanal or Midway. Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................. 5 1 The Second World War in American Literature ....................................................... 8 1.1 War Memoirs ................................................................................................... 10 1.2 With the Old Breed and Helmet for My Pillow ................................................ 14 2 Beyond the U.S. Marine Corps ............................................................................... 21 2.1 Robert Leckie ................................................................................................... 21 2.2 Eugene Sledge .................................................................................................. 23 2.3 The Link between Leckie and Sledge .............................................................. 25 3 Guadalcanal ............................................................................................................. 29 3.1 Swallowed by the Jungle .................................................................................. 32 3.2 'Turkey Shoot' .................................................................................................. 36 3.3 Expendables ..................................................................................................... 39 3.4 December 14, 1942 .......................................................................................... 41 4 Cape Gloucester ...................................................................................................... 43 4.1 Mutual Enemy .................................................................................................. 44 5 Pavuvu ..................................................................................................................... 47 6 Peleliu ...................................................................................................................... 50 6.1 Island in the Enemy´s Service .......................................................................... 51 7 Okinawa .................................................................................................................. 55 8. Suffering Heroes and Brave Victims ..................................................................... 59 8.1 Concept of Contradiction and Ambiguity ........................................................ 59 8.2 Brave Victims .................................................................................................. 62 8.3 Suffering Heroes .............................................................................................. 64 8.4 Heroes .............................................................................................................. 65 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 67 Works Cited and Used ............................................................................................... 69 Resumé ....................................................................................................................... 73 Appendices ................................................................................................................. 75 Introduction “Tora! Tora! Tora!ˮ, the infamous words that started it all. This popularized Japanese order to attack the U.S. base in Hawaii on 7 December 1941 not only officially launched the unexpectedly devastating raid on Pearl Harbor but it also locked two nations in a deadly military conflict in the Pacific that lasted four tiring years. Starting on 8 December, everyday many men across the United States went to enlist into one of the U.S. services to personally answer to the threat that the Empire of Japan so openly expressed. Amongst these men were also two future U.S. Marines, Robert Leckie and Eugene B. Sledge. For those who at least once heard about the Pacific Theatre of the Second World War, these men represent without a doubt the surviving heroes of what is mostly well- known as the hell in the Pacific. However, to those men such as Leckie and Sledge, this label would evoke rather ambiguous and puzzling feelings. There is no simple answer to this dubious view. The objective descriptions of the campaign in the Pacific representing simple facts such as details about actions and numbers of casualties are known to some people or easily accessible to most. But the subjective experience could be only found in the memoirs of those who had enough presence of mind to be able to go through it again and write it down in a coherent fashion. War memoirs constitute a very valuable source for the understanding of the Pacific war in particular because there was not only one grand and fierce conflict between two opposing sides, U.S. and Japan, but the Pacific witnessed as many battles as there were soldiers who fought in the Pacific theatre. Not only personal physical fights but above all mental struggles are of a great importance. They portray efforts to make any possible sense of things happening around them but most of all they represent 5 compelling endeavours to find and define themselves in this new world, surroundings or “hell” as they call it. The need for the identity hunt was forced upon them by the nature of the Pacific itself. Apart from the serious fighting that awaited them all together there they had to seperately and on their own accounts face the debilitating natural environment. Every island offered them many direct physical discomforts such as rain, capricious jungles, and creepy animals. All this had further consequences on their mental state. Moreover, the battles took place on the tiny specks of land surrounded only by the ocean. The simple geographical remoteness of these tiny islands increased their feeling of complete discontinuity with the rest of the world and home above all. This also disrupted the evolving definitions of their single personalities. Therefore the aim of this thesis is to explore the two ambiguous images of U.S. Marines as they tried to define themselves in the Pacific while under a constant impression of being a victim as well as a hero. Robert Leckie (1920-2001) was a professionel writer and he started his line of almost forty books with his recollections of the war in Helmet for My Pillow in 1957. Eugene B. Sledge (1923-2001) was also trying to make sense of past events in his memoir With the Old Breed in 1981. They both participated in some of the most prominent battles which took place in the Pacific, even though together they fought only in one of them. Leckie enlisted a day after Pearl Harbor and went from Guadalcanal to Peleliu. Sledge finally enlisted a year later and joined the Marines for Peleliu campaign and Okinawa. Thus for Sledge, Leckie was one of the “Old Breedˮ, Marines who went through grinder and were changed by the fighting. The first section of the thesis is devoted to placing and describing the memoirs in the broader context of war literature. Moreover, it also explores the genre features of 6 military memoirs. Because these books derive many parts from the events that happened to living persons the following part presents Robert Leckie and Eugene Sledge as authors, U.S.Marines, and moreover as personalities outside the combat area. The second section composes the main body of the thesis. This part unwinds the personal quests of these two Marines by following their physical advance on the individual Pacific islands where these single islands provide framework for the structure of this thesis. The exploration of these factors should provide supporting evidence for the prominent concept of the thesis. The final section is designated to that concept of “suffering heroes” and “brave victims” explaining its creation, structure and purpose. 7 1 The Second World War in American Literature “The literature of war brings forth a people’s 'storyfying of experience': acts of literary sensemaking performed in response to particular historical situations.” Walter Hölbling, "The Second World War: American Writing", p. 212 Even though, the intention of the thesis is to enhance the personal war experience in the two essential sources, Helmet for My Pillow and With the Old Breed, they are embedded into a systematic body of literature as well. The purpose of this introductory chapter is to provide a literary background and to identify how these books are included in this framework. The following part provides a concise overview of literature
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