Sid Phillips tried to enlist in the Navy the day after Pearl Harbor. He ended up shortly thereafter in the Marines. These are his recollection of his days in the Pacific in World War II. I’m not much for non-fiction. I find that daily events often provide more grim reality than I really care to experience. My Dad was only slightly older than Sid Phillips. Even though Sid was in the Pacific theater and the Marines and my Dad was in Europe and the Army, I heard parallels in his tales.
Phillips points out several times that our bulwark against aggression was a group of very young and very inexperienced kids. Those kids had horrific experiences that turned them quickly into men. I was struck by the fact that there wasn’t one single instance of “poor me” in his homey rendition. He made no excuses for is behavior or complaints about treatment. Quite frequently he made mention of events or instances where you could not expect sympathy or compassion from your compatriots. You were expected at all times to “man” up.
Regardless of your feelings about the military, you have to admire the courage and the resiliency of the “greatest” generation. In 1939 my Dad was in a mule brigade and by the end of the war there jets in the air. The astounding changes these young guys went through are hard to imagine.
Sid Phillips, I salute you and your generation for an amazing job!
I recommend the book.
Body of work of Sid Philllips
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