Thank you my friend Maj Marty Hogan for making us aware that December 18 is the anniversary of the birth of Marine corps 1st Marine Division machine gunner and a scout veteran of WWII Robert Leckie who became an American author of books on United States military history, sports, fiction, autobiographies, and children's books.

The "real" Robert Leckie as remembered by fellow Marine Sid Phillips
"Marine Sid Phillips reflects on fellow H-Company machine gunner Robert Leckie. Both men are depicted in the mini-series The Pacific."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtbKH49EDxo

Images:
1. Robert 'Lucky' Leckie at Cape Gloucester
2. Robert 'Lucky' Leckie after graduating from USMC boot camp
3. Robert Leckie and Vera Keler
4. Robert Leckie in 2001
Biographies
1. awesomestories.com/asset/view/Robert-Leckie-The-Pacific
2. thepacific.fandom.com/wiki/Robert_Leckie

Background from awesomestories.com/asset/view/Robert-Leckie-The-Pacific
"Robert Leckie - The Pacific American History Biographies Famous Historical Events World War II Visual Arts
Born in Philadelphia - on the 18th of December, 1920 - Robert Leckie grew up in a family of eight children. Together with his two brothers and five sisters, he (the youngest son) experienced both fun and fury during his days of youth (which were mostly spent in Rutherford, New Jersey).

It was a home in which he was surrounded by girls:

Girls, girls, girls. You walked into a room, and it was filled with girls. You went to the bathroom and there was a girl in it. You wanted to make a telephone call, and the instrument had a girl attached to it. You tried to go to bed, and there was a girl in it - and though this may have been an intriguing shock in later years, as I grew up it only reminded me that the enemy had me completely surrounded. (Leckie, Lord, What a Family! - page 99.)

Leckie escaped by reading books - a practice he maintained throughout his life (including during the war):

Only through the reading of books could the girls be escaped. This was a hint that I had taken from Foddy [Leckie's father]. As Mother said, he always had his nose in a book, sitting in his leather chair with the cap jammed down on his head and his body swathed in his robe. (Leckie, Lord, What a Family! - page 99.)

The day after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Leckie left his boisterous family behind and joined the United States Marine Corps. He saw action with the 1st Marines throughout the Pacific (as a machine gunner, among other things) and was hospitalized ten times. Along the way, he earned his nickname: "Lucky."

Leckie fought in the battles of Guadalcanal and Cape Gloucester. He describes some of the differences, between the two operations, in Helmet for My Pillow:

It was the jungle and the rain, too, that made New Britain[the island on which Cape Gloucester is located]so different from Guadalcanal. I knew that it was going to be different the moment that I ran down the ramp of our L.C.I. and across a narrow black beach, scrambling up a small steep bank to burst from sunlight into the gloom of the jungle. For, in that moment, the rains began to fall; and in that moment we began to hunt the foe.(Leckie, Helmet for My Pillow, pages 216-17.)

The Japanese were also hunting Marines, from the first moment the Americans stepped foot on Cape Gloucester. One scout, from E Company, met a very difficult end:

To the north, one patrol discovered the body of an E Company scout who had been reported missing. The area bore marks of a struggle, as though he had fought hand to hand. His body bore dozens of bayonet wounds. They had used him for bayonet practice. In his mouth they had stuffed flesh they had cut from his arm. His buddies said he had had a tattoo there - the Marine emblem, the fouled anchor and the globe. The Japs cut it off and stuffed it in his mouth.(Leckie, Helmet for My Pillow, pages 217-18.)

Despite the constant rain and horrors of living and fighting on New Britain, Leckie and his fellow Marines defeated the Japanese there:

On the sunless shores of New Britain, where the rain forest crowded steeply down to the sea, we of the First Marine Division came back to the assault, and it was here that we cut the Japanese to pieces, literally, when that devouring jungle did not dissolve them; and it was here that we pitied them.

... We pitied them in the end, this fleeing foe, disorganized, demoralized, crawling on hands and knees, even, in that dissolving downpour, for in the end it was we - the soft, effete Americans - who had learned to get along in the jungle and who bore up best beneath the ordeal of the monsoon, and in these things lay our strength. (Leckie, Helmet for My Pillow, page 216.)

Leckie also fought at Peleliu, one of the most vicious battles of the Pacific war, during which he was injured. Sent to deliver a message to the Command Post, Leckie was returning to his former position (at a shell crater) when he found himself in the middle of a nightmare:

I took firm hold of my Tommy gun and adjusted my pack, secured my map case, and circled the pile of shell casings to return to the shell crater ... About a hundred yards out, a shell exploded in front of me.

I veered to the right.

Another shell exploded in front of me.

I veered more.

Another shell. Another. But closer. Four more. Another, closer still. I halted. A horrifying fact became clear. I had inserted myself between the enemy artillery and their target [an ammo dump]!

...There was no cover. To go forward was to die. I could only run away from this approaching death, hoping to get out of the target area before it caught me.

I turned and ran.

...A shell landed alongside me, perhaps five feet away, but it did not explode, or at least I do not think it did. One cannot be certain at such times: there is a different space and time with fear.

...With that, I called upon my remaining strength, and also then, the Japanese gunner hit his target. The ammunition dump was hit. (Leckie, Helmet for My Pillow, pages 295-96.)

Leckie was injuried by the concussion blast.


During August of 1945, recovering from war injuries in a West Virginia hospital, Leckie learned that Hiroshima had been bombed:

Suddenly, secretly, covertly - I rejoiced. For as I lay in that hospital, I had faced the bleak prospect of returning to the Pacific and the war and the law of averages. But now, I knew, the Japanese would have to lay down their arms. The war was over. I had survived. (Leckie, Helmet for My Pillow, page 303.)

After the war, Leckie married Vera Keller (his childhood next-door-neighbor who is still alive), and they had three children: David, Geoff and Joan. A writer before the war, Leckie continued in that field for the rest of his career.

Initially working for the Associated Press in Buffalo, and the Star Ledger in Newark, he soon became a freelance writer. That change happened after he and Vera attended a Broadway production of "South Pacific."

Leckie walked out in the middle of the performance. Vera tells us why:

I’ll never forget: We were outside the theater and he said, "I have to tell the story of how it really was. I have to let people know the war wasn’t a musical."

Leckie also wrote narratives for documentary films and edited MGM's theater reel during the days before television. We learn more about this part of his life in the "About the Author" section of his book - Lord, What a Family! - which was published in 1958:

Formerly the editor of MGM's theater reel, News of the Day, Mr. Leckie...has also written documentary films and been editor of The Telenews Weekly.

By the time he died of Alzheimer's - at age 81, in 2001 - Leckie had written forty books. Most were about military history, some were about family and sports. He even "ghost-wrote pulp fiction aimed at teens."

He also wrote a poem about the Battle of the Tenaru. It is included in the most recent edition of Helmet for My Pillow.

In the epilogue of that book, Leckie talks about the suffering of those who fought in the Pacific:

A woman made heavy with the girth of affluence said to me: "What did you get out of it? What were you fighting for?" I thought to reply, "Your privilege to buy black-market meat," but I did not, for flippancy would only anger her and insult my comrades. Nor did I answer, "To preserve the status quo - to defend what I now have," for this would have pandered to her materialism, which is always a lie. Most of all I could not tell the truth: "To destroy the Nazi beast, to restrain imperialist Japan," for this she would not have understood. This we had done, and done it without a song to sing, with no deep sense of dedication.

But I could not answer the first question, for I did not know what I had gotten out of it, or even that I was supposed to profit.

Now I know. For myself, a memory and the strength of ordeal sustained; for my son, a priceless heritage; for my country, sacrifice.

...But sacrifice says: "Not the blood of your brother, my friend - your blood."

That is why women weep when their men go off to war. They do not weep for their victims, they weep for them as Victim. . .

That is why there are no glorious living, but only glorious dead. Heroes turn traitor, warriors age and grow soft - but a victim is changeless, sacrifice is eternal. (Helmet for My Pillow, pages 303-305).

While he was alive, and working, Bob maintained his zest for life:

Mr. Leckie reads books on history and philosophy, drinks beer for relaxation, and debates for exercise. (Lord What a Family! - About the Author.)

His famous book, Helmet for My Pillow, began its life as a novel - until one of his young children found the manuscript:

Helmet for My Pillow was originally written as a novel, but part of the manuscript was accidentally destroyed by a child.

With the disappearance of the novel's first twenty pages, vanished all desire to finish it. Seven years later Leckie started his book again, not as a novel this time, but as his personal narrative of World War II. Helmet for My Pillow received the Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Annual Award for 1957. (From "About the Author" - Lord, What a Family!)"

2. Background from thepacific.fandom.com/wiki/Robert_Leckie
"Robert Leckie
Robert "Lucky" Leckie
Leckie-Guadalcanal
Rank Private First Class
Battles
Guadalcanal Campaign
Battle of Cape Gloucester
Battle of Peleliu
Status Deceased as of December 24, 2001

Private First Class Robert "Lucky" Leckie is one of the three main characters of The Pacific. He served in the 1st Marine Division, seeing action in all its major campaigns until halfway through Peleliu as a scout and a machine gunner serving in How company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, before being transferred to 2nd Battalion intelligence, and later back to How Company.

Biography

Early life
Leckie was born on December 18, 1920 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Leckie enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. After boot camp at Parris Island (during which he failed miserably at the rifle test) he was assigned to his company at New River. There he got promoted to the rank of Private First Class, which Leckie holds in high regard. At New River, he eventually finds friendship. He first meets Pfc. Bill "Hoosier" Smith, who was a runner for Captain "High-Hips", who Leckie did not like at first because of his surly nature which hid some apprehension and fear for what lay in store for him at Guadalcanal. He next meets Pfc. Lew "Chuckler" Juergens, who Leckie gets along with a lot better due to his friendly and easygoing nature. It wasn't until much later that Leckie met Pfc. Wilbur "Bud" "Runner" Conley, who was a runner in prep school before the war. They all became good friends throughout the war, with Chuckler becoming the unofficial leader of the group.

Guadalcanal Campaign
On a navy ship with his friends talking about what is in store for them, Chuckler suggests that it is going to be a turkey shoot, while Leckie quotes the Greek poet Homer just before the regiment goes topside.
He and the 1st Marine Regiment are then seen landing on the shores of Guadalcanal with the rest of the 1st Marine Division, strangely, with no resistance. He later participates in the Battle of the Tenaru with his unit, in what his friend Chuckler later decribes as a turkey shoot, which he suspected from the beginning.
At the end of the battle, while Leckie and his comrades look over the hundreds of dead Japanese lying on the beach and floating in the surf, two Japanese soldiers burst out of the jungle. One is shot dead immediately, the other thrashes around in the outlet of the creek, distraught and yelling. Leckie's comrades laugh as they take pot shots at the man, hitting him a few times. Disgusted by the torture, Leckie draws his own pistol and puts the man out of his misery.

Leckie later watches his friend get promoted to Corporal by Lt. Hugh "Ivy League" Corrigan; however, Leckie was virtually ignored, despite having done similar deeds, leading to Leckie developing a dislike of Corrigan. Leckie is later seen greeting the 1st Battlion, 7th Marine Regiment along with the rest of his unit.

Leckie is later seen reading one of his letters to Vera aloud to his friends. He is then seen eating peaches that he stole from an Army division that always had more food, water, and any other essentials than the 1st Marine Division. After drinking the syrup from the can too quickly, Leckie vomits. Leckie is given the nickname "Peaches" by Runner who was suffering from the runs at that time. Later that night, Leckie and the others endure a Japanese bombing. They make it, but they are severely shaken the next morning, including Leckie. They fight for another month, before they get on a navy ship destined for Melbourne where a crewman tells them that the Division is regarded as being heroes for their part in Guadalcanal.

Melbourne
Leckie and his friends are later seen in Melbourne, where many of the marines have gone UA (unauthorized absence), including Leckie and all of his friends save for Hoosier, who wanted to catch some extra sleep. Leckie later bumps into an Austrailian girl named Stella, whom he dates and stays with her family during his time in Melbourne. They bond and fall in love during this time. Leckie later talks with Stella's religious and caring mother, watched by Stella. Stella's mother then promises Leckie that she will pray that he will return after the war. While visiting with Stella, she tells him that he must leave and never return. She states that her mother has also become very fond of him and she would hate to see how harshly this would effect her mother should he be killed and never return. Leckie becomes incredulous because Stella is basically telling him that he is going to die. After being dumped Leckie gets shitfaced and upon returning to camp meete Chuckler who begs him to stand guard for a few moments while he steps out to relieve himself. Reluctantly he agrees and while Chuckler is gone Lt Corrigan approaches an obviously drunken Leckie, an argument ensues, Chuckler returns and they both end up in the brig. Forced to wear uniforms with large "eight balls" painted on, to identify an escapee, they both return to camp to discover that Leckie has been transferred out of Corrigans unit to an intelligence unit.

Battle of Cape Gloucester
Leckie is later part of the Battle of Cape Gloucester, where he experiences a harsh enviornment, as well as harsh new officer, Lt. Larkin. During one patrol, Leckie is put in the rear postion. However, he later hears a twig snapping and thought that the four men approaching were his until the helmet sillouettes were made more clear, revealing them to be Japanese soldiers. He hides behind a log for a while before he opens fire, killing all four of the soldiers before they could even shoot, earning praise from 2nd Lt. Stone, if only a small amount.
He continues to write letters to Vera. One night, a battle ensues, and Leckie is forced to stay in a tent and burn some intelligence papers if the camp is overrun. He watches as his friends defeat the Japanese. During a patrol through their camp, he finds a box that once belonged to a Japanese officer that contained a Japanese pistol among other things. This box and pistol are later confiscated by Larkin, whom he later steals his pistol back from, causing a confrontation between the two, ultimately ending with Larkin sending Leckie to mess hall duty. Larkin also points out that Leckie has accidentally urinated in his pants, and he goes to a medic to find out that he has nocturnal enuresis. There was nothing he could do about it in Cape Gloucester, however, and he kept urinating in his sleep. At some point, he finds Canadian transfer, Lt. Lebec shooting himself in the head in an act of suicide; the man strips himself naked and kills himself while Leckie watches completely stunned.

Pavuvu/Banika
Leckie and his unit are given relief on Pavuvu, much to the Marines' chagrin, as the island is still infested with rats and rotting coconuts. Leckie and his friends participate in a "Stateside Lottery" which determined who among the Marines will go home. However, Leckie and his friends could not participate because of all the trouble they have caused throughout their time in the war prior, much to their anger and frustration.

Leckie is later admitted to a Naval hospital in the neighboring island of Banika for treatment of his enuresis. Prior to his admittance to the overflow ward, Leckie scares a corpsman with the pistol briefly before asking what to do with it. While there, he finds Pfc. Ronnie Gibson, a fellow marine who was admitted to the psych ward for attempting suicide after being caught trying to steal a plane and flying home while on Pavuvu.

After some time of comfort and boredom, even though he was still afflicted with nocturnal enuresis at the time, he later gets out of the hospital with the help of the head doctor, handing over his pistol as a bribe. While he is leaving, he talks with Gibson, who has clearly been traumatized and disturbed by his experiences. As Leckie walks out, Gibson tells him that he hopes that his death will be swift and painless, for to him, it is better than participating in the Pacific war. Leckie then leaves to find his friends playing a game outside. Leckie later meets a replacement, who is none other than Eugene Sledge who had just met teammate Sidney Phillips, who just happened to be Sledge's best friend. Leckie then gives his opinion on religion, basically that if God cared about them, why is he letting the war happen? Sledge replies that God does not need to. Leckie then tries to sell Sledge a bible, the latter whom already has a pocket-sized one.

Peleliu
Leckie later participates in the Battle of Peleliu, where he witnesses many horrible incidents: Hoosier is hit in the upper thigh & lies bleeding severely - Leckie holds his hand on the wound until the corpsman arrives. Hoosier ultimately survives. Leckie could not find Chuckler during the assault. Fortunately, Runner catches up to Leckie unscathed and is told that Hoosier got hit. They are later seen in a foxhole alone, with Runner sleeping but Leckie lying awake.

Leckie after Peleliu
Leckie later participates in the Airfield assault, where he sees many marines get killed in the process. Runner gets shot, but not too seriously, and Leckie goes to get a corpsman and a radio operator to replace the one who just died of his wounds. During his fruitless search, he is knocked back by an explosion, collides with a tree and the impact wounds him badly. He survives and later finds Runner with his arm in a sling, who forgives him for not finding a corpsman during the battle. Leckie is then seen taking a last look at Peleliu before his boat leaves to take him home.

Return Home
Offscreen, Leckie soon reunites with his friends once more, with Chuckler and Hoosier having survived their respective wounds. Leckie and his friends soon split up again afterwards, which explains why we don't see any of his friends in his final episode. The next time we encounter Leckie is in a hospital, where he learns that the war is over and that the Japanese surrendered, much to his surprise.

After returning from the hospital, he returns home and moves back into his house, all the while finding out to his dismay that Vera Keller was dating an army officer, Lt. Charles Dunworthy. He gets his old job back at the local newspaper and was typing on his typewriter, until he saw Vera come back home. His mother encourages him to go after Vera and wear his dress blues, which he has never worn. Leckie finally wears the unused uniform, and he goes to Vera's house, winning her over with a furious Dunworthy driving off in his car. Leckie and Vera talk, and it is here that it is revealed that Leckie's letters to Vera were abandoned by him when he thought that he wasn't going to live. They continue to date and he and Vera eventually marry and have three children: David, Geoff, and Joan.

Later Life
Leckie moved on to become a reporter for the Associated Press, the Buffalo Courier-Express, the New York Journal American, the New York Daily News and The Star-Ledger. According to Vera, in 1951 he was inspired to write a memoir after seeing South Pacific, a musical on Broadway and walking out halfway through. He said "I have to tell the story of how it really was. I have to let people know the war wasn’t a musical." His first and best-selling book, Helmet for My Pillow, a personal war memoir which later formed part of the basis for The Pacific, was published in 1957. Leckie subsequently wrote more than 40 books on American war history, spanning from the French and Indian War (1754–1763) to Desert Storm (1991).

Death
Robert Leckie died in 2001, the same year that The Pacific's predecessor, Band of Brothers was released, after fighting a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease.

Personality and Traits
In terms of personality, Leckie is one of the most complicated characters of the series. He was a charming and intelligent person, and he can be a ladies man when he needs to be.

However, he, like other marines, has suffered from psychological trauma courtesy of the war, but it doesn't affect him as badly as others like Eugene Sledge. While he was not one of the best marines in the corps, he was one of the most complicated.

At the end of the war, he still keeps some of his basic traits and he becomes an accomplished author for the rest of his life. Leckie never rises above the rank of Private First Class; as a matter of fact he has it taken away from him four times after a handful of alcohol-fused incidents, which leads him to the proudly self-proclaimed honor of a hard-fighting, hard-drinking and a Marine Brig-rat.

Leckie also held a dislike towards Lt. Hugh Corrigan, his Commanding Officer in Guadalcanal, as he was a Dartmouth College graduate (hence the nickname, "Ivy League") and given a commision thus, in Leckie's point of view, Corrigan was not a real Marine. In both his memoirs and the series, Leckie was brigged in Melbourne after a case of Gross Insubordination and Assaulting an Officer. Corrigan had him transferred out of the company and into intelligence."

FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Lt Col Charlie Brown LTC Greg Henning LTC Jeff Shearer Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price CPT Scott Sharon CWO3 Dennis M. SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SSG William Jones SGT (Join to see) SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski PO1 H Gene Lawrence PO2 Kevin Parker PO3 Bob McCord LTC (Join to see)

Two of his books are a couple of my favorites. Helmet for a Pillow which the miniseries the Pacific was partly based on and Strong Men Armed.

Very nice bio this morning Maj Marty Hogan; good morning!