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- Title: With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa
- Author: E.B. Sledge
- Narrator: George Wilson
- Length: 14:35:48
- Version: Abridged
- Release Date: 23/04/2010
- Publisher: Recorded Books
- Genre: History, Biography & Memoir, Military, Memoir
- ISBN13: 9.78E+12
There’s a particular quality to war memoirs that always reminds me of the volcanic rock formations I once encountered in Guatemala – jagged, unpolished, and bearing the scars of unimaginable heat and pressure. E.B. Sledge’s ‘With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa,’ narrated with gravitas by George Wilson, is precisely this kind of geological formation in literary form – a testament to human endurance carved by the unimaginable pressures of combat.
Listening to this audiobook while driving through the winding roads of the Pacific Northwest, I found myself frequently pulling over to absorb particularly harrowing passages. The towering evergreens outside my window became an ironic counterpoint to Sledge’s descriptions of the blasted landscapes of Peleliu. Wilson’s narration – rich with the timbre of lived experience – made me recall evenings spent with Vietnam veterans in a roadside diner near the Ho Chi Minh trail, their voices carrying that same mixture of precision and distance when recounting their war stories.
Sledge’s account stands apart from other military memoirs through its unflinching honesty and almost anthropological attention to detail. His descriptions of maggot-infested rations, the stench of decaying corpses in the Okinawan rain, and the psychological toll of constant artillery fire create a sensory experience that’s difficult to shake. Wilson’s narration enhances this effect – his pacing during battle sequences leaves just enough silence between sentences to let the horror sink in, much like the grandmother storytellers of Oaxaca knew exactly when to pause for maximum impact.
The audiobook’s greatest strength lies in its refusal to romanticize war while still honoring the bonds between soldiers. Sledge’s depiction of his fellow Marines – the ‘old breed’ of the title – comes through with particular clarity in Wilson’s performance. You can hear the affection in his voice when describing characters like ‘Snafu’ Shelton, a contrast to the flat tone used for battlefield descriptions. This emotional range makes the listening experience profoundly human rather than merely historical.
From a technical perspective, Wilson’s narration is masterful. His ability to maintain consistent character voices across 15+ hours of audio helps navigate Sledge’s dense cast of comrades. The production quality is excellent, with no noticeable audio artifacts even in the whispered passages. My only critique is that some of the more technical descriptions of military maneuvers might benefit from accompanying PDF materials for visual learners.
Compared to similar works like Robert Leckie’s ‘Helmet for My Pillow’ (also part of the Pacific War memoir canon), Sledge’s account stands out for its enlisted man’s perspective and lack of literary pretension. Where Leckie occasionally waxes poetic, Sledge remains firmly grounded in the visceral reality of his experiences – a quality that makes Wilson’s straightforward narration the perfect match.
This audiobook will particularly resonate with listeners who appreciate:
– First-person accounts that prioritize authenticity over heroics
– Military history with a strong sense of place and culture
– Narrations that enhance rather than distract from the source material
– Psychological insights into combat trauma (long before PTSD was understood)
As someone who’s spent years documenting oral histories and war stories across three continents, I can say this audiobook stands among the most powerful accounts of war’s human cost. It’s not an easy listen – there were moments I had to pause and collect myself – but it’s an essential one. The combination of Sledge’s unvarnished prose and Wilson’s empathetic narration creates something that feels less like history and more like a direct transmission of lived experience.
One passage that will stay with me: Sledge’s description of discovering a dead Japanese soldier’s family photos amidst the carnage, narrated by Wilson with such quiet dignity that I found myself sitting in a rest area parking lot for twenty minutes afterward, staring at the rain on my windshield and thinking about all the personal stories lost to war.
With respect for those who’ve walked through hell and lived to tell about it,
Marcus Rivera
