- PFC Robert Leckie: [in Leckie's 'library,' he sees Sledge picking up a Bible and chuckles] Now that explains it. You're a believer.
- Eugene B. Sledge: Yes.
- PFC Robert Leckie: OK, question: God created everything, right? The heavens, seven seas, Marine Corps...
- [gestures to the sleeping Runner]
- PFC Robert Leckie: Sleeping Beauty there...
- Eugene B. Sledge: [chuckles] Even him.
- PFC Robert Leckie: Land crabs, rats, mosquitoes...
- Eugene B. Sledge: Mosquito's a little tough to understand, I guess.
- PFC Robert Leckie: God created Japs too, right?
- [Eugene's smile fades]
- PFC Robert Leckie: Yellow slants who've tried to kill me on many occasions. Japs come from the garden of Eden too?
- Eugene B. Sledge: Well, what we do is up to us. He gives us a choice.
- PFC Robert Leckie: Free will, right. 'Cept he's God, of course, so he knows what we're gonna do before we do it.
- Eugene B. Sledge: Predestination.
- PFC Robert Leckie: So the whole game is fixed by the will of Gramps on his throne while we're down here for what? His entertainment? That makes us chumps, or God's a sadist and either way, I got no use for him.
- Eugene B. Sledge: So what do you believe in?
- PFC Robert Leckie: I believe in ammunition.
- [Eugene chuckles]
- PFC Robert Leckie: Tell you what, though - since I'm not on speaking terms anymore, next time you're havin' a chat with the old geezer, can you ask him to sink a few Jap transports and have 'em all fall on their bayonets so I can get the fuck out of here and go home? Sure would appreciate it.
- [Eugene turns to leave and puts the Bible back]
- PFC Robert Leckie: You go ahead and keep it. Don't know what I have it in the first place.
- Eugene B. Sledge: No thanks.
- [goes to the mouth of the tent]
- Eugene B. Sledge: Got my own.
- [holds it up and leaves]
- Eugene B. Sledge: Sid... what's it like?
- PFC Sidney Phillips: [after a pause] I slept with a woman in Melbourne. I'm not braggin', but that's at one end, right?
- [points down the beach]
- PFC Sidney Phillips: And then way down there, as far as you can go, that's what it's like. And that... that you can never imagine.
- Eugene B. Sledge: Okay.
- Eugene B. Sledge: Have you heard the latest about the other war?
- PFC Robert Leckie: There's another war?
- Eugene B. Sledge: We invaded Europe. Landed last month in France.
- PFC Robert Leckie: Well, unless you've got a brother over there, most guys don't give a shit.
- Eugene B. Sledge: My brother landed in Italy, tank battalion.
- PFC Robert Leckie: Well, I guess you get to give a shit.
- [offers Sledge water]
- Eugene B. Sledge: Thanks.
- [picks up a Bible]
- PFC Robert Leckie: Well, that explains it, you're a believer.
- [Sledge nods]
- PFC Robert Leckie: Okay, question: God created everything, right? The heavens, the seven seas, the Marine Corps,
- [points to Runner]
- PFC Robert Leckie: sleeping beauty over there?
- Eugene B. Sledge: [laughs] Even him.
- PFC Robert Leckie: Land crabs, rats, mosquitos?
- Eugene B. Sledge: Mosquitos are a little tough to understand.
- PFC Robert Leckie: [turns serious] God created Japs too, right? The yellow slants who've tried to kill me on many occasions? Japs come from the Garden of Eden too?
- Eugene B. Sledge: Well, what we do is up to us, we're given a choice.
- PFC Merriell 'Snafu' Shelton: [sitting and watching the other men scrubbing out drums] You assholes are gonna miss cleanin' out oil barrels pretty soon. You gonna be humpin' up some fuckin' hill...
- [he lights a cigarette, despite being beside a 'no smoking' sign]
- PFC Merriell 'Snafu' Shelton: ... or across a beach, Japs pourin' shit for fire, pissin' your pants, cryin' boo-hoo, wishin' you were back here with nothin' asked of you but to scrub oil outta drums.
- Bill Leyden: [angrily] Why don't you grab a brush and give us a hand?
- PFC Merriell 'Snafu' Shelton: Fuck that shit, I scrub drums for no man.
- Eugene B. Sledge: Can we take a break?
- PFC Merriell 'Snafu' Shelton: Do whatever you want, this ain't my detail.
- [the others look at each other incredulously]
- PFC Merriell 'Snafu' Shelton: I was supposed to dump y'all off here and report back to the C.P.
- PFC Robert Oswalt: Then why're you still here?
- PFC Merriell 'Snafu' Shelton: [smirking] I like to watch the new guys sweat.
- [last lines, as Sledge and Oswalt look out over the burning Peleliu airfield at night]
- PFC Robert Oswalt: Look at that. You ever been to the Grand Canyon?
- Eugene B. Sledge: No.
- PFC Robert Oswalt: My dad went when he was a boy. He was always goin' on about it when I was little. I'd ask him about it, he said I had to see it to understand. He finally took me when I was ten. We got there late at night to these cabins, couldn't see a thing on account of the dark. Next morning, we got up, went outside... ten yards from where we slept, the fucking Grand Canyon. A mile down. Colors I'd never seen before. My dad was right. Pictures don't show it. You have to be there... lookin' down into it.
- PFC Merriell 'Snafu' Shelton: [trying to fall asleep] Shut the fuck up, you idiot.
- Eugene B. Sledge: [softly] We have to go out there tomorrow.
- [Oswalt doesn't answer]
- PFC Sidney Phillips: [sees Eugene, who has just landed on the island, wandering around. He grins] I don't believe it.
- [he runs over and tackles Eugene]
- PFC Sidney Phillips: Something's wrong! Something's very wrong if you made it through boot camp!
- Eugene B. Sledge: Gimme a break, you old greaser, come on!
- [they wrestle]
- Capt. Andrew Haldane: [approaches with another officer] Get up off my deck.
- Eugene B. Sledge: [the boys jump to their feet and stand at attention] Captain Haldane.
- PFC Sidney Phillips: Sir.
- Capt. Andrew Haldane: What's this about, marine? Some rite of greeting new to the corps?
- PFC Sidney Phillips: [nervously] Yes, sir. I mean, no, sir.
- Capt. Andrew Haldane: [to Eugene] Who are you?
- Eugene B. Sledge: Private Eugene Sledge, sir.
- Capt. Andrew Haldane: You fellas know each other, or is this some kinda conflict resolution?
- Eugene B. Sledge: Old friends, sir. From Mobile, Alabama, sir.
- Capt. Andrew Haldane: Mobile?
- PFC Sidney Phillips: Yes, sir.
- Capt. Andrew Haldane: [amused] Old friends, huh?
- Second Marine: That explains it.
- Capt. Andrew Haldane: As you were. But try not to dislocate a shoulder or break an arm. We need both you men healthy.
- Eugene B. Sledge, PFC Sidney Phillips: Yes, sir.
- Sgt. Elmo 'Gunny' Haney: [At the gun range] Cease fire! Cease fire on the firing line!
- [after seeing a soldier pointing is gun toward other soldiers]
- Sgt. Elmo 'Gunny' Haney: You stupid, goddamn shavetail son of a bitch! You keep your fucking weapon pointed downrange or I will shove that fuckin' piece up your sorry fuckin' ass.
- Capt. Andrew Haldane: Don't look at me, Lieutenant. The Gunny's right.
