{"id":193272,"date":"2026-05-19T07:28:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T12:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=193609"},"modified":"2026-05-19T07:28:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T12:28:26","slug":"podcast-1118-inside-with-the-old-breed-a-conversation-with-eugene-sledges-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/podcast\/podcast-1118-inside-with-the-old-breed-a-conversation-with-eugene-sledges-son\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcast #1,118: Inside With the Old Breed \u2014 A Conversation With Eugene Sledge\u2019s Son"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 200px; border: 0 none;\" src=\"https:\/\/art19.com\/shows\/ba3480ca-8308-4ff6-977f-117c165c5a3f\/episodes\/28321f7b-d319-4a92-aeac-0b6fb535d40b\/embed\" scrolling=\"no\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3PHFNlu\"><em>With the Old Breed<\/em> <\/a>is widely considered one of the greatest war memoirs ever written. Penned by Eugene Sledge, a Marine who fought with the 1st Division \u2014 the old breed \u2014 in the Pacific campaigns of Peleliu and Okinawa, the book is unflinching, deeply human, and so vividly written that you can practically feel the heat, mud, exhaustion, and terror coming off the page.<\/p>\n<p>But Sledge wasn&#8217;t a professional writer. He was a biology professor who started jotting notes on scraps of paper tucked inside the New Testament he carried in his breast pocket. He wrote the book decades later, partly to process his own trauma, partly to leave a record for his sons.<\/p>\n<p>One of those sons is my guest today. Henry Sledge has spent years carrying his father&#8217;s legacy forward, and he&#8217;s written his own book \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4wyUHes\"><em>The Old Breed: The Complete Story Revealed<\/em><\/a> \u2014 that pairs his father&#8217;s combat experience with previously unpublished material and his own perspective as Eugene&#8217;s son. Today on the show, Henry and I talk about why his dad wrote <em>With the Old Breed<\/em>, what made fighting in the Pacific uniquely hellish, and how Eugene managed to come home and live a full, honorable life despite carrying the war with him for the rest of his days.<\/p>\n<h3>Resources Related to the Podcast<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4uG3rxq\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/amzn.to\/4uG3rxq&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1778970919962000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3G9GKBlGfOBNXmxm-JpE4b\"><i>China Marine: An Infantryman&#8217;s Life After World War II&nbsp;<\/i>by E.B. Sledge<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hbomax.com\/shows\/pacific\/b930854b-fb6b-43fe-b38b-251b2d290fd0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.hbomax.com\/shows\/pacific\/b930854b-fb6b-43fe-b38b-251b2d290fd0&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1778970919962000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2xAUI39Egj3BPynBR1R7u-\">HBO series&nbsp;<i>The Pacific<\/i><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/kenburns\/the-war\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/kenburns\/the-war\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1778970919962000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3qBRAQDJuc2OCYiBwbM2DD\">Ken Burns&#8217;&nbsp;<i>The War<\/i><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/manly-lessons\/on-the-70th-anniversary-of-vj-day-eugene-b-sledge-puts-your-first-world-problems-into-perspective\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/manly-lessons\/on-the-70th-anniversary-of-vj-day-eugene-b-sledge-puts-your-first-world-problems-into-perspective\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1778970919962000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3iw5_m0NPpbO_IS-seXQ-m\">AoM Article: Eugene B. Sledge Puts Your Problems Into Perspective<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/advice\/are-you-missing-the-forbidden-city\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/advice\/are-you-missing-the-forbidden-city\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1778970919962000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2OxqlT3xJtZMR6f2SyL6rf\">AoM Article: Are You Missing the Forbidden City?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Connect With Henry Sledge<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/hsledgehammer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/hsledgehammer\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1778970919962000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2mTianlLPrDE45ja81qrB8\">Henry on IG<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/william.h.sledge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/william.h.sledge\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1778970919962000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2VYlk6IamJb-Ik-hNDualj\">Henry on FB<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3PHFNlu\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-193611 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2026\/05\/814eMNRO3GL._SL1500_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"325\" height=\"533\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4wyUHes\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-193612 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2026\/05\/81lD5N7STyL._SL1500_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"325\" height=\"490\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Thanks to this Episode&#8217;s Sponsor!<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span id=\"m_3151694427377751950gmail-docs-internal-guid-6f36fb7b-7fff-e6d0-ae26-9adbac3b7860\">Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code MANLINESS at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: <a href=\"https:\/\/incogni.com\/MANLINESS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/incogni.com\/MANLINESS&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1779321512698000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1TiSs8HWwiS-RVbeQjiJBW\">https:\/\/incogni.com\/MANLINESS<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Listen to the Podcast! (And don\u2019t forget to leave us a review!)<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-art-of-manliness\/id332516054?mt=2\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-111440 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2020\/02\/listen-apple-podcasts.jpg\" alt=\"Apple Podcast.\" width=\"300\" height=\"77\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLLIasrSrFGdQRgdfSoUfBx2Bt8O4LcpVD&amp;si=vlWpk0HXq82aR1Hi\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-191972\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2025\/12\/YouTube.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"76\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/overcast.fm\/itunes332516054\/the-art-of-manliness\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-111443 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2020\/02\/overcast-1.png\" alt=\"Overcast.\" width=\"300\" height=\"79\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/2vJHmWhhcMQRXtTruuFWTJ\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-111444 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2020\/02\/spotify.png\" alt=\"Spotify.\" width=\"300\" height=\"109\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/castro.fm\/podcast\/3c765314-b44c-410d-91c5-a36600abcca3\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-191297\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2020\/08\/podcastcastro_orig.png\" alt=\"Listen on Castro button.\" width=\"300\" height=\"100\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/art19.com\/shows\/the-art-of-manliness\/episodes\/28321f7b-d319-4a92-aeac-0b6fb535d40b\">Listen to the episode on a separate page<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/rss.art19.com\/episodes\/28321f7b-d319-4a92-aeac-0b6fb535d40b.mp3\">Download this episode<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/rss.art19.com\/the-art-of-manliness\">Subscribe to the podcast in the media player of your choice<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Transcript Coming Soon<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the Old Breed is widely considered one of the greatest war memoirs ever written. Penned by Eugene Sledge, a Marine who fought with the 1st Division \u2014 the old breed \u2014 in the Pacific campaigns of Peleliu and Okinawa, the book is unflinching, deeply human, and so vividly written that you can practically feel [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":193614,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[502,42413,156],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-193272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-character","category-old__military","category-podcast"],"featured_image_urls":{},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193272\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193272"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=193272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}