Henry Sledge’s book, With the Old Breed: The Complete Story Revealed, concludes the profound history of his father about the battles of Peleliu and Okinawa. E.B. Sledge’s original manuscript spanned 1,000 pages, but publishers required it to be cut down, leaving significant portions “on the cutting room floor.” Henry’s book finally brings those lost pieces to light.
Both books are essential reading. E.B. Sledge’s work is invaluable because it documents a pivotal, harrowing era in the Pacific Theater. While it is not an easy read, it is an investment worth making to truly understand this piece of WWII history.
For me, reading it was more than an act of historical curiosity; it was a journey my father could not take with me. For reasons of his own, he chose to keep that traumatic chapter of his life closed.
As I “walked” with Sledge through those two island battles, my admiration for my own father only deepened. Dad was a quiet man who never called attention to himself. I believe he remained silent to protect us from the cruelty of war and the tragedies wrought upon the world at that time.
It was only much later that I realized I was born just four years after Japan surrendered. While Europe and Japan were still smoldering from the devastation, our homes and schools had already moved on.
In 2014, I broadened my professional practice as a way of honoring my father and his sacrificial service. I wanted my practice to be a safe haven for veterans—both those who served in justified conflicts and those who did not. Whether enlisting or drafted, a service member enters a form of “indentured servitude,” surrendering their life to an institution tasked with defending the nation and protecting those who serve.
My father’s post-war experience was only hinted at. Still, I know that America, the Veterans Administration, and our government failed him as he returned home to live with what he had seen and what had been done to his fellow soldiers and himself. He and all veterans deserved better.
It is disgraceful when active-duty service members must rely on food banks to feed their families while a loved one is away serving the nation.
I have heard many veterans say they were told “not to talk about” what happened over there. It grieves me because that is worthless advice.
For that reason, I assured the veterans I worked with in my therapy practice that my office was a safe place. There would be no detailed notes, no cameras, and no recordings. They were safe in my care, and I kept my word.
Reflecting on my upbringing, I sometimes felt I left home unprepared for the world. My home life was good, though my brothers and I fought the typical amount for three boys under one roof—sometimes acting like a “wrecking crew,” other times chasing each other in anger.
Years later, while earning my Master’s in Family Psychology at Hardin-Simmons University, I wrote a paper on my family of origin. I noted that the best way to explain our household was “too much testosterone and too little estrogen.”
E.B. Sledge came home just as my father did, though far too many did not. Both had seen and had been forced to do the worst.
War pushes military members and first responders to witness the unthinkable, then expects them to return home and simply “get on with life.” However, Sledge took a different path from my father.
Sledge returned to school, eventually earning a PhD in Zoology. My father had a family to support, but his dream for us was a college education. He and my mother made that happen.
Though Dad passed away before I received my second Master’s, before Tim and Joseph graduated, and before his grandson received his PhD, I know he would have been proud. Instead of academia, Dad poured himself into creating a successful business that supported six families and allowed the older generation to live comfortably.
In the absence of established treatments for what we now call Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Sledge began to write. His account is so simple yet profound that it is considered the definitive history of the Pacific War.
As a man of faith and wisdom, Sledge walked his son, Henry, through age-appropriate accounts of the war. He kept mementos that held value and when Henry entered his father’s office, he was surrounded by the tangible memories of his father’s early adulthood.
That exposure fostered in Henry a great love for his father and a desire to finish the work begun in With the Old Breed.
Reading both Sledge’s books helped me peer into the silent years of my father’s service in the Marine Corps. It also showed me a Marine father’s way of sharing his past without terrifying or burdening his sons.
If you have the time, read these books. Let the depth of appreciation carry you on a journey of gratitude for the men and women who made our present possible. Furthermore, let us help this nation resolve never to send our military abroad carelessly, for any reason other than protecting this country.
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A private practice counselor working with veterans and survivors of trauma. Previously, Chancellor served four churches in Texas for 33 years, then ran a Mental Health Department of Alan B. Polunsky Maximum Security prison which houses death row.