Suddenly We Didn't Want to Die: Memoirs of a World War I Marine

This is a powerful story of our Marines going to France as America enters World War I in 1918. These Marines are green and have not been tested in combat. Starting with their fight at Bellau Woods until the final days of the war the fight against the Germans in trench warfare, gas attacks, artillery bombs, and hand to hand combat. Our young Marine who is a runner carrying messages through deadly battle fields has in short order given us a first hand look at this horrific conflict. Loved the book. The Authors diary and initial oil skin pages were published years after the war . Great that this book was written as it brings alive for a short time these Marines who gave their all for America.

Written in an archaic style in and in third person, this is a genuine combat Marine's memoir of a war which is now 100 years old. As such it is essential reading for any Marines or soon-to-be Marines, and highly recommended for anyone interested in the real experience of the devastating Great War conflict which is now almost forgotten. Yet our modern roots are here. The sense of the inevitability of wounding or death which permeates the expectations of the once-cocky young Marines is an intrinsic part of modern infantry combat, as is the infighting and the leadership incompetence. We are now in an era wherein wars are fought by other people's sons. With that in mind, this is a must-read.

Mackin's book is a spare, at times profound and almost poetic evocation of the life of a Marine Corps grunt on the Western Front in World War I. The dominant theme is of how men accommodate themselves to the appalling realization that they are in a hopeless situation in which they will be killed, and there is nothing they can do to prevent it, and that no one other than their comrades will ever fully appreciate this predicament: "The folks at home will never know the truth." Mackin writes of the thrill and terror of battle, the feelings of fear and elation, and the awe at seeing other men die: "It is always a show, no matter how terrifying." To deal with this world of fear and death, men developed a sarcasm for weakness: "They make a bitter joke of things to cover feelings"; "We learned to close our minds to the memory of men who fell. We took the way of living day to day . . . We learned to laugh at everything in time. It carried us." Men lost their youth, and in some ways matured, and in other ways were permanently scarred: "There was no singing now . . . The faces had changed. . . . his scars would be deep, and never, never leave his eyes."

I bought several books to study WWI and this is the one that moved me the most. It is written by a young, untested Marine ~ I'd say "average" but his ability to capture and share his feelings is far from average. He was not a skilled, professional author and yet, his writing is beautiful ~ sometimes, lyrical even. His narrative is moving and sometimes breath taking and touches on such detail as to be painful. This is not a treatise of history or society, it is merely ("merely"?) the experiences in war of a young man, fresh from his dear home expected to acquit himself honorably in the service of his country in the war that was meant to end all wars.

The writing style threw me at first. The book is written in short one to four or five page "thoughts" or remembrances. And written in third person. But once I got into the flow of the writing style I didn't want to put it down. The short stories follow this Marines day to day fighting from Belleau Wood to the last day of the war. The book starts in the trenches and ends in the trenches. This hero tells it like it was.....

A great book about Marine replacements just after Belle Wood .A different form of writing more like essays . These guys replaced the troops killed and wounded at the battle ,so a good look at just after it by someone who was their .

Great book lots of short stories

Terrific book about everyday activities in WWI. The book covers the action that the Marines experienced from Belleau Woods till November 11. This is a real asset to those wanting to learn more about the experiences of the AEF in France and particularly the 2nd Division and the Marines. This generation had to face the German Army with no Russians along to help. Excellent and easy read.

One of the finest books on war that I have ever read.

I have always been fascinated with WW1 and prefer to read first person accounts rather than read books by authors who were born years after the event. This book is interesting enough and details the exploits of one GI . The chapters are well written and the author keeps them short. It brings home to the reader just how brutal life at the front was and I learned some things I had not heard before .Some of his tales sounded a bit farfetched to me like on one occasion he was watching the line with another GI. This GI was suddenly marched off and later gunfire could be heard. It turns out he was a german spy who had crept over the previous evening. This is quite possible of course ,but they would not execute a spy within ten minutes of capturing him !. I have doubts that this happened at all and think maybe the author was "beefing" the book up a bit. This was my first book bought for the Kindle.