Helmet For My Pillow Analysis

The history of war is what many spend time reading about in textbooks. Few, however, experience war and all that it encompasses. David Leckie, a marine during World War II, uses his book, Helmet for My Pillow, to share with readers the truth of what it was like to be a soldier. Rather than skimming the surface of his time on Parris Island and the Pacific Islands, he goes into unmatched, excruciating detail; every trench dug, every shot fired, and every fallen soldier passed was recounted by Leckie. Setting this story apart from any other, the first-hand accounts of combat, unlikely descriptions of the day-to-day actions of the soldiers, and the heart that Leckie intertwines with each part of his story all combine to make this thought-provoking,
Consequently, the reader learns more about the personal, unpolished side of the life of a World War II soldier. Through a passage in the third chapter of the book, Leckie tells about other soldiers taking gold fillings from the mouths of the Japanese men they killed. “He would kick their jaws agape, peer into the mouth with all the solicitude of a Park Avenue dentist- careful, always careful not to contaminate himself by touch- and yank out all that glittered” (Leckie, 85). A glimpse of this unknown life is something that is only alluded to in other literary works of war. Leckie again shows an often hidden side of military life when he writes about his experience of being sent to the Marine Corps brig for being drunk while holding the role of sentry for his fellow marine, Chuckler; for this offense, he is sentenced to five days without bread and water, as well as being made a private. “The brig receives you, and you are nothing; even the clothes you wear belong to the brig and bear its mark; your very belt and razor blades have been entrusted to the brig warden- you have nothing- you are nothing (Leckie, 172-173). Through this excerpt, Leckie offers an inside look at military life that readers otherwise would not know about or