193: From Peleliu to Okinawa with the U.S. Marines - Henry Sledge

Preston and Sayre are joined today with Henry Sledge. Henry is the son of esteemed WWII Marine and author, Eugene “E.B.” Sledge, who wrote the seminal WWII memoir, With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa. As the son of a Pacific Theater Marine infantryman and nephew to a Battle of the Bulge tanker, Henry has had a lifelong respect and admiration of not only the Pacific Theater of operations, but WWII in its entirety.

We discuss the events which gave rise to the strategy and execution of the Pacific Theater, and the distinction of what those who fought in the Pacific faced compared to those deployed to the various other battlegrounds fought during a time of global war. Having personally visited the islands—homesite to some of the most brutal battles fought in WWII—we discuss the terrain and environment, and what it was like encountering the very bunker his father knocked out over a half-century prior.

Henry is the co-host of WWII History podcast, What’s the Scuttlebutt and the author of several published articles; has served as a historical consultant on WWII Pacific artwork for Valor Studios, and has been interviewed on camera many times, discussing his father.