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

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"Suddenly We Didn't Want to Die: Memoirs of a World War I Marine," by Elton E. Mackin, has an introduction and annotations by George B. Clark and a foreword by Lieutenant General Victor H. Krulak, USMC (Ret.). Clark's introduction notes that Mackin was born in New York State in 1898 and enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1917. This book evokes the combat experiences of Marines in Europe during WW1.

I found this book quite stunning. The sections often read like prose poems or very short stories. Mackin is graphic in describing wartime violence and suffering, but his writing is also at times quite beautiful. The narrative opens with the Marines preparing to advance upon German-held Belleau Wood. Mackin follows in particular the career of "Slim," a Marine who becomes a runner (battlefield messenger).

Mackin covers a number of subjects: encounters with German troops, relations with civilians, relations between "old-timers" and green replacement troops, and the dangers of the runners' job. The book contains many interesting technical details about war in that era: weapons, fortifications, poison gas, etc.

The narrator's voice is often ironic, satiric, sarcastic, and even bitter. But his voice is also humane--he sees moments of kindness and tenderness in the midst of the hell of war. At one point the author cites Walt Whitman. Like Whitman, Mackin is irreverent yet compassionate, with an eye for detail and a knack for rendering humanity in both its tragedy and beauty. This is a valuable addition to the canon of United States war literature.

Elton E. Mackin only had a high-school education but he wrote with a natural ability. Here is war. He dosen't glamorize it, he dosen't attempt to glorify it and he dosen't use his memoir as a soapbox. He dosen't judge or condem those who were in command. This is an account of a rifleman. He served at the very bottom and experience war at it's most basic and cruel. Next to the fear and horror of combat Mackin gives equal time to the everyday exsistence of a soldier or Marine. The lack of sleep, the poor food which there was never enough of, the boredom, all the physical discomforts of serving in the field during a war. A superb book. Of interest to both WW1 buffs and the general reader.

The American combat experience in World War I, brief and now out of living memory, mostly lacks the literary exposure of the British Great War writers, and produced nothing like the avalanche of memoirs of World War II. This has been something of an historical injustice to the "doughboy" , the American "grunt" of World War I. Dirty, hungry, poorly equipped and supplied, suffering as much from the elements as the enemy, the American civilian-soldier persevered, fought, and won, rather to the surprise of Allies and enemy alike.
Mackin, recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross, and two Silver Stars, tells the story well, in a compelling narrative which will stand with Sledge's "With the Old Breed" as monuments to the American soldier in general, and the American Marine in particular.

(The numerical rating above is an ineradicable feature of the page. This reviewer does nor employ numerical ratings.)

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."

Elton Mackin's "Suddenly We Didn't Want to Die" is one of most well known books to have emerged from the Marine Corps' experience in World War I. After reading it I must say I agree with its placement at the top of memoirs from American Expeditionary Force. That said, there were several aspects of this book that I found unusual. Many personal choices made by the author in writing his book gave it a unique quality but often proved problematic in creating an overall feel.

The most notable aspect of this book is the fragmented nature of its sections. It is roughly divided into chapters for each month from June to November of 1918. Within these chapters are scattered bits of personal narrative told in the first person and novelistic descriptions of marines in combat from a third person narrator. I found this style of writing to be strange at first, but as you read on the flow of the book becomes apparent and some continuity emerges.

From reading the introduction, I learned that Mackin revised and edited his story over years and even decades, as he was never really satisfied. This is quite apparent in the fragmented nature of the book as he struggled to fully describe his experience through various literary modes. There can be many reasons for an author to deflect some of his experience into a novelized format. With a brutal story of war, I think this is a way for veterans to distance themselves from the painful emotions while still telling the truth, albeit in a veiled format. If the writing is not a straight first person narrative, then the author can perhaps probe deeper into his sentiments without fear of exposing thoughts and feelings that are purely personal. That was the conclusion that I had reached after completing Mackin's book. The vignettes touch on the more intimate side of a Marine's psyche and Mackin struggled to give structure to these emotions. His eventual decision was to detour his experiences through using a third person narration.

Like Hervey Allen's "Toward the Flame", Mackin begins and ends his book abruptly and devotes its entire length to the months spent in the combat zone. This combined with the literary style gives the work a very raw feeling and the writing is really bursting with emotion on every page. I found this to be interesting, but If Mackin had bookended his writing with training and shipping home the story would have had more balance and development.

His first pages throw the reader right into the raging battle of Belleau Wood, where the Marine Corps really gained worldwide recognition. The highlight of this section was Mackin's 1st Battalion, 5th Marines defense of hill 142 just west of the famous wood. One of the great strengths of the book, which the reader first learns of here, is the author's ability to convey his transformation from raw replacement to battle hardened veteran. He is very clear about the contempt many veterans held towards the rookies. This is something that slowly fades; he gains experience and eventually becomes a veteran himself.

July is marked by the beginning of the American-French counteroffensive on the Marne as the Marine Brigade is committed south of Soissons. The fighting here is fierce and clearly described. After two months Mackin's unit receives a break in Pont a mousson and then light action at St. Mihiel in September. October is devastating for the 5th Marines at Blanc Mont back in the Champagne region of France, and November sees the 2nd Division (of which the Marine brigade belonged) breakthrough the German line in the Meuse Argonne. A unique and emotive read, but the format was a bit loose.

We often over look WWI due to time and Great Wars that followed, but WOW! War is hell, specially this one.

My first WWI book. I was fascinated at what they went through, above and beyond the physical discomfort of any other war since. The Marine aggressiveness was there in WWI just like every other war. My favorite WWI memoir.

The writing goes for a pithy Hemingway style, but falls far short of Hemingway. And some of the sections aren't interesting. But some of the book is earth-shakingly poignant. The bit that hit me was the author's describing the mind of the soldier who has seen such horror he knows God does not exist. And he makes a vow to abide by that belief. And then when he's shot and dying, the boyhood memory of a country church springs to mind and he yells, "Oh, God" and feels guilty at betraying his new found atheism.

Mackin's memoir of his experiences as a Marine in the First World War was good, but not great. The experiences he shares are not uncommon to fighting men in any war, which makes the book seem a little cliched. I was also irritated by his references to himself in the third person ("the kid"). With that said, however, it is one of only a handful of memoirs by Americans who served in France, and as such is worthy of attention.