Fantastic talk by EB Sledge in '94 about his experience in the Pacific and the tolls war takes on the war fighter.

Some funny lines concerning Janet Reno and Peter Jennings as cast away lines. Commentary on Mogadishu is pretty scathing as well.

good listen. I know its hard for some veterans to talk about what they went through, but i wish we had more oral histories from that generation.

Couple Youtube channels out there trying to get as many as possible

https://www.youtube.com/@americanveteranscenter

Awesome. Reminds me of the recording I heard from Coach Ray Akins. He gave an account of basically having to fight his way home from Okinawa. Just like Sledge, almost every single Marine in his unit died, and the battle lines were constantly moving. The Japanese used every trick in the book to try and kill you. You had to be disciplined, but also had to have a street fighter mentality if you were going to make it. Make it through that, and coming back home to coach football, even the biggest challenge is like a cake walk.

I'm very proud to have fought wearing the same uniform as these Marines. The blood of thousands of Marines who paid the ultimate sacrifice is part of our pedigree. Marines keep coming even when they know the odds are highly stacked against you.

Semper Fidelis.