You’ll Be Sor-ree!

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Sid Phillips, a World War II Marine Corps hero featured in HBO®’s The Pacific, offers up an invaluable firsthand account of the war against Japan. 

A mortarman with H-2-1 of the legendary 1st Marine Division, Sid was only seventeen years old when he entered combat with the Japanese. Some two years later, when he returned home, the island fighting on Guadalcanal and Cape Gloucester had turned Sid into an “Old Timer” by Marine standards, and more: he left as a boy, but came home a man.

These are his memoirs, the humble and candid tales that Sid collected during a Pacific odyssey spanning half the globe, from the grueling boot camp at Parris Island, to the coconut groves of Guadalcanal, to the romantic respite of Australia. Sid recalls his encounters with icons like Chesty Puller, General Vandergrift, Eleanor Roosevelt, and his boyhood friend, Eugene Sledge. He remembers the rain of steel from Japanese bombers and battleships, the brutality of the tropical elements, and the haunting notion of being expendable.

This is the story of how Sid stood shoulder to shoulder with his Marine brothers to discover the inner strength and deep faith necessary to survive the dark, early days, of World War II in the Pacific.

“For anyone who cares about the human dimension of war—its cost and its heroism—Sid Phillip’s book is a must read.”—Ken Burns, Emmy award-winning filmmaker of The War 

“We have an extraordinary opportunity now to recognize perhaps THE key player, if there is one, if there’s ONLY one key player, he might be at the very top of the pyramid… a native of Mobile, Alabama, a man who appears over and over in our series… Dr. Sid Phillips.”—Tom Hanks, Executive Producer, The Pacific

“Like his life-long friend, Eugene Sledge, Sid Phillips speaks to us in these enchanting memoirs in his natural voice, engaging and modest, full of insight and intelligence, but ever alert to the lighter side of even the most dismal human circumstances. And like any great story teller, he leaves you wishing to hear a great deal more.”—Richard B. Frank, author of Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark BattleDr. Sid Phillips, a Guadalcanal Marine, was born Sept 2, 1924, and enlisted in the USMC the day after Pearl Harbor. Passing beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, he departed his land a nervous seventeen-year-old. Two years later, when he kissed the docks in San Diego, he had come home a hero. Together Sid and his brothers in the legendary 1st Marine Division won the first epic victory of the war, saved Australia, and stopped the Japanese juggernaut in the Pacific. Sid and his sister, Katherine, have become internationally known after their notable roles in Ken Burns’ documentary The War and the Tom Hanks/Steven Spielberg/Gary Goetzman HBO miniseries, The Pacific. He passed away in 2015.US

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