Helmet for My Pillow From Parris Island to the Pacific: A Young Marine's Stirring Account of Combat in World War II

Robert Leckie (1920–2001) was the author of more than 30 works of military history as well as  Marines!, a collection of short stories, and  Lord, What a Family!, a memoir.  Raised in Rutherford, New Jersey, he started writing professionally at age 16,  covering sports for the Bergen Evening Record  of Hackensack, New Jersey. Leckie enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on the day following the attack on Pearl Harbor, going on to serve as a machine gunner  and as an intelligence scout and participating in all 1st Marine Division campaigns except  Okinawa. He was awarded five battle stars, the Naval Commendation  Medal with Combat V, and the Purple Heart. Helmet for My Pillow was his first book; it received the USMC  Combat Correspondents Association Award upon publication.