soldier-at-arms

15

Reblog

erfurt1918:

A Marine after several days of hard fighting on Peleliu 1944.

This picture goes to show how brutal the Pacific Campaign of World War II was.  The look of complete and utter fear in this man’s eyes is terrifying and heart-breaking.

“To the non-combatants and those on the periphery of action, the war meant only boredom or occasional excitement, but to those who entered the meat grinder itself the war was a netherworld of horror from which escape seemed less and less likely as casualties mounted and the fighting dragged on and on. Time had no meaning, life had no meaning. The fierce struggle for survival in the abyss of Peleliu had eroded the veneer of civilization and made savages of us all.” 
-Eugene B. Sledge, With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa