Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific

Robert Leckie

Feb 2010 · Sold by Bantam

About this ebook

“A grand and epic prose poem . . . The purely human experience of war in the Pacific, written in the graceful imagery of a human being who—somehow—survived.”—Tom Hanks

See Robert Leckie's story in the HBO miniseries The Pacific

Here is one of the most riveting first-person accounts ever to come out of World War II. Robert Leckie enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in January 1942, shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In Helmet for My Pillow we follow his odyssey, from basic training on Parris Island, South Carolina, all the way to the raging battles in the Pacific, where some of the war’s fiercest fighting took place. Recounting his service with the 1st Marine Division and the brutal action on Guadalcanal, New Britain, and Peleliu, Leckie spares no detail of the horrors and sacrifices of war, painting an unvarnished portrait of how real warriors are made, fight, and often die in the defense of their country. 

From the live-for-today rowdiness of marines on leave to the terrors of jungle warfare against an enemy determined to fight to the last man, Leckie describes what war is really like when victory can only be measured inch by bloody inch. Woven throughout are Leckie’s hard-won, eloquent, and thoroughly unsentimental meditations on the meaning of war and why we fight. Unparalleled in its immediacy and accuracy, Helmet for My Pillow will leave no reader untouched. This is a book that brings you as close to the mud, the blood, and the experience of war as it is safe to come.

Ratings and reviews

Not easy reading at times. It is not necessary to use 25 metaphors in each sentence. They actually became annoying after awhile. Certainly not the worse book I've read by a long shot but it would have been better if the author/editor wasn't trying to impress the reader with their literary skills instead of just telling the story as though we were sitting across from each other talking. Thank you for your service!

This is an excellent read and I would highly recommend it. An honest, brutal, sometimes funny account of Robert Leckie's life in the US Marine Corps during the Second World War. From bootcamp to the brutallity of fighting the Japanese on Guadalcanal, from the highs of rest camp in Melbourne to the carnage on Peiliu, this is an honest emotional account of the war in the Pacific that will keep you enthralled from start to finish.

Most of the world forgets the war in the pacific. This book reminds us of the great sacrifices made there. Many people of the world never hear about the battles and the sacrifices of the Marines in Gaudalcanal, New Britian, and Pelilu. This book is more than a memory, it's a tribute.

About the author

Robert Leckie was the author of more than thirty works of military history as well as Marines, a collection of short stories, and Lord, What a Family!, a memoir. Raised in Rutherford, New Jersey, he started writing professionally at age sixteen, covering sports for The Bergen Evening Record of Hackensack. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on the day following the attack on Pearl Harbor, going on to serve as a machine gunner and as an intelligence scout and participating in all 1st Marine Division campaigns except  Okinawa.  Leckie was awarded five battle stars, the Naval Commendation Medal with Combat V, and the Purple Heart.  Helmet for My Pillow (Random House, 1957) was his first book; it received the Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association award upon publication.