491: SLEDGEHAMMER. Eugene Sledge's son Henry Shares Lost Stories of The Old Breed 1st Marine Division.

This is Jocko Podcast number 491 with Dave Burke and me, Jocko Willink. Good evening, Dave. Good evening. In the early morning light, word was passed that they had to move out and attack across the airfield. Quote, Many of us had no water and ammunition supplies were low.

We hoped supplies would come up before the attack. We were thirsty, and we could not go much longer without water. A concentration of heavy machine gun fire swept over their gunpit. First I distinctly heard three separate shots crack, crack, crack, as the bullets passed over, quickly followed by the report of the gun. That's a Hotchkiss, said Snafu as we ducked our heads.

No sooner had he uttered the remark than the gun fired a long burst, and tracers streaked over us, and the slugs cracked as they went over, not more than a foot above ground level. Whether those Japanese heavy machine gunners were laying down harassing fire supporting another counterattack, or whether they actually observed our position by the muzzle flashes from our mortar, or sauced by the light of the starshells, we couldn't know. My father knew that as soon as this machine gun fire ended, they were going to have to prepare to attack across the airfield. The thought of this filled him

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