Scan barcode
aschepis's review
5.0
Poetic, poignant, and intensely personal it is no wonder that the producers of The Pacific chose to use Helmet for My Pillow as an inspiration and guideline for the series.
I was nearly moved to tears by the time Bob Leckie incants “May he rest In peace” for his friends and comrades who lost their lives and as he describes his horror at the dawning of the atomic age.
As I read the book I could imagine my grandfather who fought in the pacific on some of the same islands and the ordeals he had to bear both harrowing and mundane.
Make no mistake, this book does not romanticize war or the pacific theatre of the Second World War. It does anything but.
In my opinion this book is a national treasure and I would recommend it to anybody.
I was nearly moved to tears by the time Bob Leckie incants “May he rest In peace” for his friends and comrades who lost their lives and as he describes his horror at the dawning of the atomic age.
As I read the book I could imagine my grandfather who fought in the pacific on some of the same islands and the ordeals he had to bear both harrowing and mundane.
Make no mistake, this book does not romanticize war or the pacific theatre of the Second World War. It does anything but.
In my opinion this book is a national treasure and I would recommend it to anybody.
hokiehi23's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
3.75
tarmstrong112's review
2.0
I am disappointed in this book, but I found it largely boring. I've wanted to read this since seeing the HBO miniseries "The Pacific." I remember finding the author to be a disagreeable person in that show and that comes through in the book as well. Overall, a chore for me to read and I found myself skimming big portions of it.
altoid's review
4.0
An excellent time capsule of a brutal war as seen from the perspective of a grunt asked to do the impossible and somehow come out sane on the other side. Leckie has a beautiful prose and uses it effectively to take away any notions of grandeur or nobility in the life of a boots-on-the-ground soldier who faces unspeakable evils all too often in a war with an enemy who will not surrender under any circumstance. Highly recommend for anyone who wants an authentic telling of life as a soldier during WW2.