Inside With the Old Breed — A Conversation With Eugene Sledge’s Son

Henry Sledge, the son of Eugene Sledge, joins the show to discuss his father's legendary war memoir 'With the Old Breed' and his own book 'The Old Breed: The Complete Story Revealed.' They explore why Eugene wrote the book—partly to process his combat trauma and leave a record for his sons—and how he kept notes on scraps of paper inside a New Testament during battle. The conversation covers what made the Pacific theater uniquely hellish, Eugene's decision to enlist as a private rather than an officer, and how the memoir's visceral style came from a scientist's eye and a refusal to glamorize war.