runmethrough:

The Pacific: Part Two

“How fucked are we now on Guadalcanal?”

The worst thing about treating those combat boys from the Great War wasn’t that they had had their flesh torn, it was that they had had their souls torn out.

Day 15: Favorite Scene - John Basilone’s speech to his men about their lack of respect towards the enemy. 

“That’s what the enemy is to you, huh? A fucking buck toothed cartoon dreamed up by some asshole on Madison Avenue to sell soap. Well, let me tell you something, the Jap I know, the Japanese soldier, he has been at war since you were in fucking diapers. He’s a combat veteran, an expert with his weapon; he can live off maggoty rice and muddy water for weeks and endure misery you could never dream up in your worst nightmare. The Japanese soldier doesn’t care if he gets hurt or killed; as long as he kills you. You can call them whatever you want but never ever fail to respect their desire to put you and your buddies into an early grave.”

Won’t make it out alive.

Capt. Andy Haldane wasn’t an idol. He was human. But he commanded our individual destinies under the most trying conditions with the utmost compassion. We knew he could never be replaced. He was the finest Marine officer I ever knew. The loss of many close friends grieved me deeply on Peleliu and Okinawa. But to all of us the loss of our company commander at Peleliu was like losing a parent we depended upon for security – not our physical security, because we knew that was a commodity beyond our reach in combat, but our mental security.

Eugene Sledge’s gun - Peleliu Landing v Okinawa

For me, I looked at Snafu and I thought, “Here’s a guy who probably never thought there was any hope of leaving these islands.” It began to be his own world, in which he could practically get away with anything, knowing it was his only way to survive. - Rami Malek [x]

↳ PFC Bill “Hoosier” Smith

There was this guy—I didn’t know him. He was tucked in behind me. I could feel his heart beating, his lungs fighting for air, his lips on my back as he prayed to God to keep him alive. He believed God would save him. 

“There’s a war on. Everybody’s got to make sacrifices.”