You'll Be Sor-Ree!: A Guadalcanal Marine Remembers the Pacific War

Sid Phillips knew he was a long way from his home in Mobile, AL, when he plunged into the jungles of Guadalcanal in August 1942. A mortarman with the same company of the 1st Marine Division as Helmet For My Pillow author Robert Leckie, Sid was a 17-year-old kid when he entered combat. Some two years later, when he returned home, the island fighting on Guadalcanal and Cape Gloucester had turned him into an "Old Timer" by Marine standards and a man. In this true story, Sid recalls his encounters with icons like Chesty Puller, Gen. Vandergrift, Eleanor Roosevelt, and his boyhood friend, With the Old Breed author, Eugene Sledge. He remembers fighting in the battle of the Tenaru (Alligator Creek), the struggle for Henderson Field, bombardments by Japanese battleships, the brutality of the tropics, and the haunting notion of being surrounded and expendable. This is the story of how Sid stood shoulder to shoulder with his Marine brothers to discover the strength and faith necessary to survive the dark, early days of WWII in the Pacific.