China Marine: An Infantryman's Life after World War II

This book is a fantastic description of things most have never thought about. A must read.

Having written what, the soldiers on the line believe to be the definitive description of the man in the mud's eye view of combat, E.B. Sledge has written a unique in the streets view of being in China in the first months after the end of America’s war with China. It is important to understand that in the days from VE day 1945 until many months later China continued to be a battle ground.Directly contending forces were the Chinese Communist and Chinese Nationalists, but also present, under arms and making peace, less than peaceful were Chinese warlord’s and a still armed and employed large contingent of the Japanese Army. The role of the Marine’s was to keep the contenders apart. Peace was to be maintained, at least in the major cities and key air ports and railroads. American policy was to support the Nationalist, but to do so without becoming actively engaged. Use of force was to be limited to defending particular places and only if directly challenged. Marine Private First Class, E. B. Sledge, and his fellow marines of the” Old Guard” the First Marine Division K Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment were deployed almost directly from the killing grounds of Okinawa.”Sledgehamer” was one of only a few dozen of his unit to survive the war with no visible injuries. He was suffering what we now call Post Traumatic Shock, but he and they were deemed combat ready and had no choice but to live out their demons while living in a world both at peace and under immediate threat.Luckily his unit was assigned to Peking. For the First Marines, this was a return to the pre-war assignment for the original, prewar China Marines. Sledge will share with us how is used his time to learn Chinese and make some friendships that allowed him to better understand another culture and begin the process of self-healing.Sledge a future Doctor of Biology, professor and family man was, not a typical Marine, or indeed a typical person. He was a definitive voice for the front-line American warrior. He shared in many of their frustrations over the apparent favoritism granted to back of the line troops, He avoided drunkenness and womanizing, and instead sought out the history and people of China. Upon returning home he was like many who had left America, departing, innocent of the world and returning over exposed to it, not immediately ready to fit back into America at peace. Being from a semi-rural southern family, hunting had been part of what his family did. Sledge had had enough of killing, but discovered an abiding interest in the living creatures of the woods.China Marine is a short book. The narrative is generally the flat simple language of a non-writer. The book is one of the few published that has an Americans near daily diary of China during its American occupation. If you read his great memories of fighting, this insight into the man at peace is worth the read. If you have any interest in this period of Chinese history, you have only a few books from this first-hand point of view.

I just finished Eugene B. Sledge's China Marine. Most will be familiar with Sledge's famous With The Old Breed, his account of service with the First Marine Division at Peleliu and Okinawa that is widely regarded as one of the best personal accounts of WW2 combat. His company sustained extremely high casualties which in later years caused Sledge to wonder how he had escaped without a scratch when so many others had been killed or grievously wounded.China Marine is his story of what happened to him and the others in the First Marine Division at the end of the War. Rather than an immediate return to the USA, or even occupation duty in Japan, the Division was sent to Northern China to accept the surrender and demobilization of the large number of Japanese troops there. A collateral mission was to try to keep a lid on the ongoing Chinese civil war that Chiang Kai Shek and the Nationalists were in the process of losing to Mao and the Communists.Sledge writes movingly of his experiences when assigned to Peiping and how his young eyes were opened to an exotic and ancient civilization undergoing huge change. It was dangerous duty as the Communists had no use for another foreign army in China and took actions designed to oust all foreigners, and particularly Americans, from China. Sledge writes bitterly of his anger to the rear echelon types who seemed to have gotten earlier priority to return home while combat veterans were still waiting for orders and risking their lives in a conflict that had little meaning to them. When he finally gets home in 1946 his alienation from civilians is palpable and troubled him until he found his purpose in pursuing an advanced education and new career.For those who want to know 'the rest of the story' about Sledge, the First Division and how the end of the War came to them and their eventual return home, this small volume tells the story well. It is not a personal account of fierce combat as was The Old Breed. Nonetheless, readers will find it a useful addition to the huge body of books on the Pacific War. Recommended.

If you've read the Old Breed then you will need to read this. It's a short book on Mr E Sledges experiences whilst occupying Beijing just after WW2, It also talks about his experiences in trying to adjust to civilian life in the US the effects of Post Traumatic Syndrome and how it effected his outlook on life and the effect it had on those around him.Overpriced for the size of the book and perhaps it should be a part of the Old Breed just as the author originally intended however it is essential reading well written and honest so I am pleased I paid for it.

Eugene Sledge doesn't use overly complicated writing techniques; he tells his story in the most honest, uncomplicated, down-to-earth way possible. This simplicity is what made his first book, With The Old Breed, such an interesting read.However, with the brutality and horror of the pacific theater's bloodiest battles behind him, Sledge's thoughts on post-war China are, bluntly, much less compelling than his combat experiences. While written in the same signature manner, China Marine is overshadowed by its predecessor.As a book of post-war china, and the only one of the post-war Marine corps, the book is a history that merits full marks. As a general read, especially for those who have read With the Old Breed, it is simply boring. With some memorable moments, including a Japanese war-dog attack and an uncomfortable reunion with Mac, Sledge's hated platoon leader from Okinawa, I push my score up from two stars to three. I would not read it again.

The book lives up to its press reviews and gives a ground-level and apolital view of ordinary life of some of China's city population in the uncertain post-war years, as witnessed by a sympathetic and caring American serviceman fresh from horrific action in the Pacific Theatre. Highly recommended.

I liked how Mr. Sledge wrote about his very personal experiences in Beijing and surroundings, after the horrible battles he survived in Japan. Since I read myself a lot about this subject Asia, I think it a realistic view of the poor lifes Chinese people had to suffer at that time

Having seen the television series this brings it home