Robert Leckie

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.

Military service On January 18, 1942, Leckie enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in response to the attack on Pearl Harbor. 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. Leckie's decorations include the Purple Heart and the Navy Commendation Ribbon with a "V" device. 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.

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." The resulting memoir was his first and best-selling book, Helmet for My Pillow, published in 1957. Leckie wrote more than 40 books, with his histories spanning from the French and Indian War to Desert Storm.

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. He was interred at St. Joseph's Mausoleum in Newton, New Jersey. Vera died in 2024 at the age of 100.