Helmet for My Pillow
From Parris Island to the Pacific: A Young Marine's Stirring Account of Combat in World War II
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Narrated by:
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James Badge Dale
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Tom Hanks (introduction)
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By:
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Robert Leckie
About this listen
The celebrated 2010 HBO miniseries The Pacific, winner of eight Emmy Awards, was based on two classic books about the War in the Pacific, Helmet for My Pillow and With The Old Breed. Audible Studios, in partnership with Playtone, the production company co-owned by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, and creator of the award-winning HBO series Band of Brothers, John Adams, and The Pacific, as well as the HBO movie Game Change, has created new recordings of these memoirs, narrated by the stars of the miniseries. James Badge Dale (who portrayed Robert Leckie) and Joseph Mazello (who played Eugene Sledge) bring all the passion and emotion of their riveting television performances to these new audio productions.
In Helmet for My Pillow, Robert Leckie enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in January 1942, shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This riveting first-person account follows 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.
BONUS AUDIO: Tom Hanks, one of the executive producers, has written and narrated an original introduction to Helmet for My Pillow, where he describes his appreciation for the book's author, the narrators, and the soldiers who had fought in the cauldron of the Pacific Theater during World War II.
For more from Audible and Playtone, click here.
©1957 Robert Hugh Leckie. "The Battle of the Tenaru" c. 2001 by Robert Hugh Leckie. (P)2013 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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At once a gripping depiction of men at war and a compelling story of redemption, Ghost Soldiers joins such landmark works as Flags of Our Fathers and The Greatest Generation Speaks in preserving the legacy of World War II for future generations.
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Ghost soldiers
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In the U.S. Marine Corps, the most dangerous job in combat is that of the sniper. With no backup and little communication with the outside world, these men disappear for weeks on end in the wilderness with nothing but intellect and iron will to protect them - as they watch, wait, and finally strike. But of all of the snipers who ever hunted human prey, one man stands above the rest as the most legendary fighting man to ever pull a trigger. That man is Carlos Hathcock.
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Just like Marine stories should be told
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David Kenyon Webster's memoir is a clear-eyed, emotionally charged chronicle of youth, camaraderie, and the chaos of war. Relying on his own letters home and recollections he penned just after his discharge, Webster gives a firsthand account of life in E Company, 101st Airborne Division, crafting a memoir that resonates with the immediacy of a gripping novel.
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The Finest Infantry Memoir of WWII
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The Greatest U.S. Marine Corps Stories Ever Told
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On Friday, November 10, 1775, the Continental Congress approved a resolution for the organization of the Corps, creating what would become the hallowed few, the proud - the Marines. Since then, the men and women of the United States Marine Corps have created the finest traditions of service and honor, and supplied a pantheon of heroes who have upheld them.
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Marines Will Hate This Narrator.
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By: Iain Martin, and others
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There have been many Marines. There have been many marksmen. But there has been only one Sergeant Carlos Hathcock, a legend of Marine lore. He stalked the Viet Cong behind enemy lines. His record has never been matched: 93 confirmed kills. This is his story. Powerful, chilling, and all true.
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history at its best
- By sheridan on 03-27-08
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Bloody Ridge and Beyond
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On the killing ground that was the island of Guadalcanal, a 2,000-yard-long ridge rose from the jungle canopy. Behind it lay the all-important air base of Henderson Field. And if Henderson Field fell, it would mean the almost certain death or capture of all 12,500 marines on the island. But the marines positioned on the ridge were no normal fighters - they were the hard-fighting men of Edson's Raiders, an elite fighting unit within an already elite Marine Corps.
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A Masterful Account
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Fields of Fire
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They each had their reasons for being a soldier. They each had their illusions. Goodrich came from Harvard. Snake got the tattoo - Death Before Dishonor - before he got the uniform. And Hodges was haunted by the ghosts of family heroes. They were three young men from different worlds plunged into a white-hot, murderous realm of jungle warfare as it was fought by one Marine platoon in the An Hoa Basin, 1969. They had no way of knowing what awaited them. Nothing could have prepared them for the madness to come. And in the heat and horror of battle they took on new identities, took on each other, and were each reborn in fields of fire....
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Awesome Read! of course I am Prejudiced
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They joined for their country. They fought for each other. When war breaks out in 1914, Mark Fenner and his Sheffield friends immediately flock to Kitchener's call. Amid waving flags and boozy celebration, the three men - Fen, his best friend Locky and self-assured Frank, rival for the woman Fen loves - enlist as volunteers to take on the Germans and win glory.
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A superb Great War historical novel
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If I Die in a Combat Zone
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Tim O'Brien gave us this intensely personal account of his year as a foot soldier in Vietnam. The author takes us with him to experience combat from behind an infantryman's rifle, to walk the minefields of My Lai, to crawl into the ghostly tunnels, and to explore the ambiguities of manhood and morality in a war gone terribly wrong.
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A solid Vietnam war memoir
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Boocoo Dinky Dow
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Grady Myers was an artistic but aimless teenager in 1968, when, desperate for troops, the U.S. Army overlooked his extreme nearsightedness and transformed him into Hoss, an M-60 machine gunner. His memoir Boocoo Dinky Dow: My Short, Crazy Vietnam War is by turns funny and sobering. Grady recounts his military initiation at Fort Lewis, where there could be a fuzzy line between training and torture.
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a good autobiographical Vietnam War story
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Baptism
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A Yale graduate who volunteered to serve his country, Larry Gwin was only 23 years old when he arrived in Vietnam in 1965. After a brief stint in the Delta, Gwin was reassigned to the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in An Khe. There, in the hotly contested Central Highlands, he served almost nine months as executive officer for Alpha Company, 2/7, fighting against crack NVA troops in some of the war's most horrific battles.
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Great story of a front line grunt during Vietnam
- By richard fox on 05-04-16
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Way of the Wolf
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Louisiana, 2065. A lot has changed in the 43rd year of the Kurian Order. Possessed of an unnatural and legendary hunger, the bloodthirsty Reapers have come to Earth to establish a New Order built on the harvesting of enslaved human souls. They rule the planet. They thrive on the scent of fear. And if it is night, as sure as darkness, they will come.
On this pitiless world, the indomitable spirit of mankind still breathes in Lieutenant David Valentine.
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Its what you expect, and thats not a bad thing.
- By Kevin McLaughlin on 11-26-08
By: E. E. Knight
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love love love the history
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In November 1965, some 450 men of the First Battalion, Seventh Cavalry, under the command of Lt. Col. Hal Moore, were dropped by helicopter into a small clearing in the Ia Drang Valley. They were immediately surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. Three days later, only two and a half miles away, a sister battalion was chopped to pieces. Together, these actions at the landing zones X-Ray and Albany constituted one of the most savage and significant battles of the Vietnam War. How these men persevered makes a vivid portrait of war at its most inspiring and devastating.
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Masters of the Air is the deeply personal story of the American bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitler’s doorstep. With the narrative power of fiction, Donald Miller takes you on a harrowing ride through the fire-filled skies over Berlin, Hanover, and Dresden and describes the terrible cost of bombing for the German people.
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Depth of Detail was incredible!
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What listeners say about Helmet for My Pillow
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- bettersafethansorry
- 07-15-14
Great story, but a bit too poetic
What did you love best about Helmet for My Pillow?
It's a great story and the narration was super, the only complaint would be that Leckie is a bit too flowery with his language, but that isn't a reason not to listen. Leckie really gets you to feel how horrible war is in a way that makes you ashamed if you've never been there and somehow thought it would be cool or glorious.
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30 people found this helpful
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- Cynthia
- 07-26-15
Profane and Profound
There's an assumption in the military that the best and the brightest are officers. The enlisted, particularly those in all volunteer services, are thought to be uneducated louts without skills, options, or hope. That assumption is wrong. In fact, as Robert "Lucky" Leckie describes in
"Helmet for my Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific: a Young Marine's Stirring Account of Combat in World War II" (1957) intelligence and leadership can sometimes be mutually exclusive.
For at least part of World War II, an American man could be drafted into any other service, but he chose to be a Marine and the Marines chose him. Writer Leckie volunteered shortly after Pearl Harbor, and served in Company H, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.
"Helmet for my Pillow" is Leckie's story, and the stories of men who fought and died in the battles of Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, and Peleliu. This isn't a book about tactics and goals. The only 'Big Picture' in this book is a nickname for one of Leckie's Lieutenants. He's also got officers called 'High Hips', 'Commando', 'Ivy League' and 'Dreadnought'. Leckie's pseudonyms are spot on accurate, and the only officers he respected earned their commissions on the battlefield.
Leckie was great at fighting, but - cursed with an explosive temper - garrison life didn't suit him. He got busted several times and was what he proudly called a "Brig Rat". He would have been in a lot more trouble without the help of several Australians whose convict origins must have given them an innate hatred of MPs.
"Helmet for my Pillow" isn't a nostalgic look back at what was later remembered as a hero's war in the Pacific. It's a cold, hard, eloquent and sometimes horrifying story. Leckie's writing was excellent, and I plan to read/listen to his other military histories.
The narration was good, and there's an Easter Egg: there's a brief introduction by Tom Hanks.
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24 people found this helpful
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- Sooner Fan
- 10-30-18
Very good...but you need to read "W/ the Old Breed
A very worthwhile book. So thankful to Robert Leckie and those who sacrificed for freedom. All young people today should read this book, and Eugene Sledge's " With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa" ( an even better book).
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- Dylan
- 06-22-18
very detailed!
felt like robert was sitting down right next to me talking to me about his experiences
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- Bret
- 01-08-21
I wish our schools made
I wish our schools made this one of the required reading before graduating 12th grade. We spend far too much time of mind numbing brain washing political correctness that is leading another generation into peril. Only by learning from history, history that presents truth in context will future generations have a chance at avoiding such a catastrophic war.
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- Mi
- 11-06-19
Good but wordy
This book is a great account of South Pacific fighting in WWII but it is a bit wordy for my taste. It makes sense though bc I believe Leckie was a writer in his fathers newspaper before and after his service.
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- Thomas VandeVanter
- 09-04-20
Harrowing account of times since past
To look through the eyes of a Marine during a time of incredible trial and tribulation is to be humbled and awestruck. So wonderfully written and narrated. The accolades from Tom Hanks says a lot about the impact of this book.
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- Eric Pruneda
- 08-01-19
Epic
Having watched The Pacific and listened to With the old Breed a few times, this brings another level of realism that, although we will never know what it was like, puts all of us closer to the hell that they went through in those islands
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- JShorr
- 06-16-15
Beautifully, written. Stark portrait of the complexity of war
The story is familiar, but the detail and atmosphere presented here make the novel fresh and alive. Sometimes the language gets ponderous, but the deliberate attention to detail makes the story read like a confession. The Epilogue is one of the most elegiac summations of American post-war triumph and guilt that I have read. Altogether wonderful.
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- Andrew&Laura
- 07-19-20
5 stars for a brilliant book
An amazing account of a Marine fighting in the Pacific Theater of WW2. James Badge Dale did a fantastic narration of this brilliant book. He really made all of the characters come alive. Great read even a better listen.
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