Reading With the Old Breed from the perspective of the modern day experience proves that truth may not be stranger than fiction, but it sure is similar. Just to set the clarity here: this book is a factual account of a true story of the real experience of a soldier recounting his time in the military during World War II. That said, reading it can be produce quite a strong feeling of déjà vu that recalls a host of World War II novels, movies and television shows.
That powerful sense of having lived through all these exact moments before is pervasive throughout the story. There is the dictatorial drill instructor whose oppressive sense of authority at times verges into fascistic torture, but who ends up as something of a heroic figure due to adequately preparing raw recruits for the difficult task of mere survival which awaits them on the battlefield. Once shipped out of basic training, the is the colorful cast of characters from all around the country complete with nicknames either right on target or ironically off the mark: narrator “Sledgehammer” Sledge eventually teams up with “Snafu” Shelton, “Ack Ack” Haldane, and “Hillbilly” Jones. There is even the resident “Doc” Caswell to offset the unexpected gunner called “Kathy.”
Among this typical ragtag mix of thirty-year-men, enlistees and reluctant warriors only there because they got drafted are the experience older guy who takes the author under his wing, the conscience of the platoon who guides Sledgehammer away from conduct unbecoming a human being, the arrogant Ivy League coward and the “regular Joe” commander everybody looks up to who dies a tragically heroic death in battle.
Were With the Old Breed a novel or fictional screenplay, it likely would never make it past the past the first level of obstruction to publication or production precisely because it does contain so many elements of war stories which have moved beyond loosely fitting stereotype to slip into the more snugly fitting attire of cliché. The story even includes the character evolution arc of the idealistic young man rashly tossing aside all his well-calculated plans for the future to enlist in a fit of fiery patriotic fervor who comes to fully appreciate the moral wasteland that is war while also admitting that the relationships forged with other soldiers is unlike any other in a man’s life.
The difference, of course—and the reason why the manuscript made its way past all the walls of obstruction to climb the ladder to publication—is that none of it is a cliché or even a stereotype. What separates those constructs of reality from reality itself is fact. If the facts fit the cliché, then it is not really a cliché anymore. With the Old Breed proves with a striking sense of finality that very often those things which art and commerce transform into stereotype and cliché did not start out that way. Sometimes the truth is not stranger than fiction, but exactly the same.
