China Marine

An Infantryman's Life After World War II

By: E. B. Sledge, Stephen E. Ambrose

Narrated by: Dan John Miller

China Marine is the sequel to E. B. Sledge's critically acclaimed memoir, With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa.

Picking up where his previous memoir leaves off, Sledge, a young marine in the First Division, traces his company's movements and charts his own difficult passage to peace following his horrific experiences in the Pacific. He reflects on his duty in the ancient city of Peiping (now Beijing) and recounts the difficulty of returning to his hometown of Mobile, Alabama, and resuming civilian life haunted by the shadows of close combat.

Distinguished historians have praised Sledge's first book as the definitive rifleman's account of World War II, ranking it with the Civil War's Red Badge of Courage and World War I's All Quiet on the Western Front. Although With the Old Breed ends with the surrender of Japan, marines in the Pacific were still faced with the mission of disarming the immense Japanese forces on the Asian mainland and reestablishing order. For infantrymen so long engaged in the savage and surreal world of close combat, there remained the personal tasks of regaining normalcy and dealing with suppressed memories, fears, and guilt.

©2002 Jeanne Sledge (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A quite satisfactory conclusion to its thoroughly satisfactory predecessor." ( Booklist)

Impressive

Many years ago, I read Sledge’s World War II memoir “With the Old Breed”. This book is considered to be the best WWII memoir written. Engene Bondurant Sledge’s (1923-2001) nickname in the Marines was “Sledgehammer”. The author is a skilled writer and researcher. He primarily used his diary but also reviewed archived material of the United States and China.
Sledge remained In the United States Marine Corp after the end of WWII. He was stationed in China. This book tells of his experiences in post WWII China. The United States at that time was supporting General Chiang Kai-Shek (1887-1975) in his battle against communism. I am impressed at the author’s skill in observing details. The details he provides of his visit to the “Forbidden City” were fantastic. He tells of friendship with a Chinese family and he also learned Chinese. He also tells of his exploration and learning about the history of China. After leaving the Marines he returned to school and obtain a Ph.D. in biology. He was a long-time professor at a University in Alabama. I highly recommend this book.

The book is five hours and eleven minutes. Dan John Miller does a good job narrating the book. Miller has won the Best Voice Award by Audiofile Magazine. He was nominated twice for the Audie and was awarded the Golden Earphone as well as the Listen Up Award from Publishers Weekly.

Learn how to pronounce corpsman please

That part was infuriating but everything else was great. Recommend it a lot. Just please fix the pronunciation.

Sledge bonus

It was def a bonus listening to Eugene’s sledges account after Okinawa. Very interesting to hear of his exploits in China and his return home.

The complete experience of China after WWII

In brings to mind the memories and incidents of my father who was also a China Marine.

Amazing

read both books and felt like I could see through his eyes, and felt his emotions in a way.