Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific

Robert Leckie stands as one of America’s most accomplished military historians, distinguished by his unique combination of combat experience and professional writing expertise that shaped both his memoir Helmet for My Pillow and his subsequent prolific career. Born on December 18, 1920, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to an Irish Catholic family of eight children, Leckie grew up in Rutherford, New Jersey, where he began his career as a writer in high school, working as a sports writer for The Bergen Evening Record in Hackensack, New Jersey. This early journalism experience proved foundational to his ability to transform personal combat experiences into historical narrative.

Following World War II, Leckie established himself in major metropolitan journalism before transitioning to book writing. According to his wife, Vera, in 1951, Leckie was inspired to write a memoir after seeing South Pacific on Broadway and walking out halfway through it, declaring he had to tell the story of the war as it was. This moment represents the genesis of what would become both his most famous work and the foundation of his career as a military historian. The publication of Helmet for My Pillow in 1957 marked several important milestones.