Robert Leckie (author)

Robert Leckie
Born
Robert Hugh Leckie

(1920-12-18)December 18, 1920
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedDecember 24, 2001(2001-12-24) (aged 81)
Byram Township, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupations
  • Author
  • journalist
Years active1940s–1999
Military service
AllegianceUnited States
Branch
United States Marine Corps
Service years
1942–1945
Rank
Private first class
Unit
Conflicts
Awards

Robert Hugh Leckie (December 18, 1920 – December 24, 2001) was an American author and journalist. After serving in the United States Marine Corps during World War II, Leckie worked as a writer and newspaperman, eventually writing more than 40 books, both non-fiction and fiction. His war memoir Helmet for My Pillow, along with Eugene B. Sledge's With the Old Breed, formed the basis for the HBO's 2010 television series The Pacific. In the series, Leckie is portrayed by James Badge Dale.

Early life

Leckie was born on December 18, 1920, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the youngest of eight children in an Irish Catholic family. He grew up in Rutherford, New Jersey, where he attended St. Mary High School.[1]

Military service

On January 18, 1942, Leckie enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in response to the attack on Pearl Harbor.[2] He served in combat in the Pacific theater as a scout and a machine gunner in H Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division; among his company mates was Sidney Phillips.

Leckie saw combat in the Guadalcanal campaign, including the Battle of the Tenaru, and the Battle of Cape Gloucester in 1942–1943. He was sent on leave twice: first a prolonged stay in Melbourne, Australia, after Guadalcanal, and then a hospital stay at Naval Base Banika Island to recover from frequent nocturnal enuresis brought about by combat stress. In Melbourne, Leckie spent time in a military prison after brandishing a firearm at his commanding officer while inebriated.

During the airfield assault at the Battle of Peleliu, Leckie had to run back the opposite way to fetch a radio operator after one was killed in the assault. While searching, Leckie was caught in the ammo supply explosion, which sent him flying into a tree. Leckie suffered a blast concussion and internal wounds from this, and was evacuated to an army field hospital in the Russell Islands, never serving in combat again. He returned to the United States in March 1945, and was honorably discharged shortly thereafter.[3] Leckie's decorations include the Purple Heart and the Navy Commendation Ribbon with a "V" device.[2]

Writing career

External videos
video icon Booknotes interview with Leckie on Okinawa: The Last Battle of World War II, September 4, 1995, C-SPAN

Leckie began writing professionally at age 16, working as a sports writer for The Bergen Evening Record in Hackensack, New Jersey.[2] Following World War II, Leckie attended Fordham University but did not graduate, saying he "never liked the classroom."[4] Instead, he worked as a reporter for the Associated Press, the Buffalo Courier-Express, the New York Journal American, the New York Daily News, and The Star-Ledger.[5]

In 1951, Leckie was inspired to write a war memoir after seeing the musical South Pacific, saying, "I have to let people know the war wasn't a musical."[6] The resulting memoir was his first and best-selling book, Helmet for My Pillow, published in 1957.[7] Leckie wrote more than 40 books, with his histories spanning from the French and Indian War to Desert Storm.[8]

Personal life and death

After returning home from World War II, Leckie married his childhood friend and neighbor Vera Keller, with whom he had three children.[9] Leckie died of Alzheimer's disease at the age of 81 at his home Byram Township, New Jersey, on December 24, 2001.[10] He was interred at St. Joseph's Mausoleum in Newton, New Jersey.[11][12] Vera died in 2024 at the age of 100.[9]

Bibliography

Military history

  • March to Glory. World Publishing Co. 1960. LCCN 60011454. OCLC 2851705.
  • Conflict: The History of the Korean War, 1950–53. Da Capo Press. 1996 [1962]. ISBN 0-306-80716-5.
  • Strong Men Armed: The United States Marines Against Japan. Perseus Publishing. 1997 [1962 (Random House)]. ISBN 978-0-306-80785-5.
  • Challenge for the Pacific: Guadalcanal, the Turning Point of the War. Doubleday. 1965. OCLC 1295146.
  • Challenge for the Pacific: The Bloody Six-Month Battle of Guadalcanal. Doubleday & Company. 1968. ISBN 0-306-80911-7.
  • Delivered from Evil: The Saga of World War II. Harper & Row. 1987. ISBN 0-06-015812-3.
  • None Died in Vain: The Saga of the Civil War. Harper Perennial. 1990. ISBN 0-06-016280-5.
  • The General. I Books. 2002 [1991]. ISBN 0-7434-4461-2.
  • George Washington's War: The Saga of the American Revolution. Harper Collins. 1992. ISBN 0-06-016289-9.
  • From Sea to Shining Sea: From the War of 1812 to the Mexican-American War, the Saga of America's Expansion. Harper Perennial. 1994. ISBN 0-06-016802-1.
  • Okinawa: The Last Battle of World War II. Viking Press. 1995. ISBN 0-670-84716-X.
  • The Wars of America: From 1600 to 1900. Harper Collins. 1998. ISBN 0-06-012571-3.
  • A Few Acres of Snow: The Saga of the French and Indian Wars. Wiley & Sons. 1999. ISBN 0-471-24690-5.
  • Warfare: A Study of War

Autobiography

Catholic history

  • These Are My Heroes: A Study of the Saints
  • A Soldier-Priest Talks to Youth
  • American and Catholic

Fiction

Youth books

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Rohan, Virginia. "War Through His Eyes", The Record, March 14, 2010. "Leckie and Vera Keller lived next door to each other in Rutherford..... But Vera was three years younger than he, and she went to Rutherford High School, while he went to St. Mary's High School."
  2. 1 2 3 "Robert Leckie". Penguin Random House. Retrieved May 5, 2026.
  3. ↑ Leckie, Robert (1979). Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific. Random House Publishing. ISBN 0553593315.
  4. ↑ Lamb, Brian (September 3, 1995). "Okinawa: The Last Battle of World War II". C-SPAN. Retrieved May 9, 2026. LAMB: Did you graduate from Fordham?; LECKIE: No. No way.
  5. ↑ "Robert Leckie, 81, son in Flanders". New Jersey Hills Media Group. January 3, 2002. Retrieved May 5, 2026.
  6. ↑ Rice, Sarah (February 21, 2010). "HBO series illuminates N.J. Marine's book on World War II experience | NJ.com". NJ.com. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  7. ↑ Booknotes, Okinawa: The Last Battle of World War II, Transcript of Interview with Robert Leckie, 3 September 1995
  8. ↑ Interview with Brian Lamb, 1995.
  9. 1 2 "Robert Leckie – The Pacific". Awesome Stories. February 21, 2010. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  10. ↑ "HBO series based on Byram man's war story", New Jersey Herald, March 6, 2010. Accessed February 23, 2022. "One night in 1951, Robert Leckie and his wife Vera stepped out to see the musical South Pacific.... The Byram writer and his memoir are the main focus of the HBO miniseries The Pacific, debuting March 14."
  11. ↑ "HBO The Pacific Premiere In Raritan". Black Tie Magazine. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Obituary". The New York Times. December 27, 2001. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Full Record of Great American battles (1968; Leckie, Robert)". Library of Congress Online Catalog. Retrieved December 22, 2007.

References

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