October 2011
“The Japanese fought to win—it was a savage, brutal, inhumane, exhausting and dirty business. Our commanders knew that if we were to win and survive, we must be trained realistically for it whether we liked it or not. In the post-war years, the U.S. Marine Corps came in for a great deal of undeserved criticism in my opinion, from well-meaning persons who did not comprehend the magnitude of stress and horror that combat can be.
The technology that developed the rifle barrel, the machine gun and high explosive shells has turned war into prolonged, subhuman slaughter. Men must be trained realistically if they are to survive it without breaking, mentally and physically.” —With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa, E.B. Sledge
The technology that developed the rifle barrel, the machine gun and high explosive shells has turned war into prolonged, subhuman slaughter. Men must be trained realistically if they are to survive it without breaking, mentally and physically.” —With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa, E.B. Sledge
“Until the millennium arrives and countries cease trying to enslave others, it will be necessary to accept one’s responsibilities and be willing to make sacrifices for one’s country—as my comrades did. As the troops used to say, If the country is good enough to live in, it’s good enough to fight for. With privilege goes responsibility.”
—With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa, E.B. Sledge
Last of Polish Pilots Who Foiled Hitler in UK Dead at 97 →
newser.com
A Polish fighter pilot believed to have been the last of those who fought alongside the English to stop Hitler’s advance in the Battle of Britain has died at 97, reports the New York Daily News.
After the Nazis took over his homeland in 1939, Tadeusz Sawicz made his way to France, where he fought until Paris fell; he then took up the fight in Britain in July 1940, just as the Luftwaffe began its three-month-long failed assault on England.Some 17,000 Polish pilots, mechanics, and ground staff fought for Britain.
“Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, and brains save both.”
—Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
