Despite being two main leads, this episode is the only time when Robert Leckie and Eugene Sledge actually meet, however the scene is entirely fictional and included for storytelling and dramatic purposes.
The amphibious vehicles that PFC Eugene Sledge and the 1st Marine Division storm the beach at Peleliu in are LVT-4s armed with an M2 .50-caliber heavy machine gun (nickname ma deuce) and an M1919 .30-caliber medium machine gun.
The film the Marines are watching is "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Released in 1943 and starred Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman.
It is mentioned that Gold is thirty dollars an ounce at that time. As of 2026, it is over 4400 - by that reckoning, they would certainly be rich.
