Line of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment-- Eugene Sledge's unit -- march, gear on their backs, through the hills at Peleliu. Oct. 1944.

Source: National Archives (127-N-97412)

A Marine in combat on Peleliu. September 1944.

Source: National Archives

Marines advance cautiously up the beach on Peleliu during the initial landing. September 15, 1944.

Source: National Archives (127-N-95276)

Portrait of P.f.c. E.B.. Sledge, K Co. 5 Marine Regiment, in Marine dress blues. 1946. Sledge served at Peleliu and Okinawa.

Source: The Sledge Family

Eugene B. Sledge was born in Mobile November 4, 1923, the grandson of Confederate officers. Bookish and frail as a child, he had been taught to hunt and fish by his physician father and spent much of his free time roaming the woods on the outskirts of town with his . . .

Eugene Sledge, left, and his brother, Lt. E.S. Sledge, in downtown Mobile on Christmas eve. 1942. Sledge would follow friend Sidney Phillips into the Marines and survive Peleliu and Okinawa.

Source: The Sledge Family

Eugene Sledge's military issue Bible. While in the Pacific, he kept a journal on tiny sheets of paper that he stored in the Bible.

Source: The Sledge Family

Members of Eugene Sledge's unit -- 3rd Bn. 5th Marine Regiment -- are crammed into a "duck" as they head to Peleliu's front lines. October 1, 1944.

Source: National Archives (127-N-97261)

Selections from Eugene Sledge's "With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa." The acclaimed first-person account was named one of the top five books in epic 20th-century battles.

Source: Random House

Marines at a front line machine gun position gather for mail call. Peleliu, September 1944.

Source: National Archives (127-N-96263)

Marines move cautiously across a Peleliu airfield.

Source: National Archives (127-GW-739-95430)

Maurice Bell was born in Mississippi on February 17, 1925, and grew up in the northeast corner of the state. Throughout 1942, he traveled around the country with his father on a construction crew that was building army camps. While in Indiana in early 1942, he met and started dating . . .

Pfc. John D. New, of Mobile, takes aim from the brush with his rifle. Peleliu, September 1944. New was later killed in action, thowing himself on a grenade. For this, he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Source: National Archives (127-N-97190)

In the same job as Mobile's Eugene Sledge performed, a 60 mm mortar crew in action on Peleliu. September 1944.

Source: National Archives (127-N-96551)

Pacific island battle, one of the bloodiest of the war. Peleliu had been taken by Japan from Germany during World War I. Located about 2,400 miles south of Tokyo and having a land area of only about 7 square miles, Peleliu island was largely blanketed by a tropical forest. Before . . .

Black Marines find cover near the front line. Peleliu, September 1944.

Source: National Archives (127-N-96331)

These Seabees will serve as stretcher-bearers for the 7th Marines. Peleliu, September 1944.

Source: National Archives (127-N-96475)

Seasoned Marines steal a moment to rest and clean their guns on Peleliu. September 1944.

Source: National Archives (127-N-96604)

The battle for Peleliu is one of the most brutal and unnecessary campaigns in the Pacific.

A combat photographer from the 1st Marine Division reads a letter. It's the first mail to arrive since fighting began on Peleliu. September 1944.

Source: National Archives (127-N-96525)