Robert Hugh Leckie (December 18, 1920 â December 24, 2001) was a United States Marine and an author of books about the military history of the United States, Catholic history and culture, sports books, fiction books, autobiographies, and children's books. As a young man, he served with the 1st Marine Division during World War II; his service as a machine gunner and a scout during the war greatly influenced his work.
Leckie's war memoir, Helmet for My Pillow, along with Eugene B. Sledge's book With the Old Breed, formed the basis for the HBO series The Pacific (2010), the follow-up series to Band of Brothers. In the miniseries, Leckie is portrayed by James Badge Dale.
Leckie was born on December 18, 1920, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to an Irish Catholic family as the youngest of eight children. He grew up in Rutherford, New Jersey, and attended St. Mary High School.
He began his career as a writer in high school, as a sports writer for The Bergen Evening Record in Hackensack, New Jersey. On January 18, 1942, Leckie enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He served in combat in the Pacific theater, as a scout and a machine gunner in H (How) Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division (H/2/1); 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 1942âÂÂ1943. He was sent on leave twice: first a prolonged stay in Melbourne after Guadalcanal, and then a hospital stay at Naval Base Banika Island to recover from frequent nocturnal enuresis brought about by combat stress. During his time at the former, Leckie - who was known for having a combative relationship with authority - spent time in military prison after pulling a gun on 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.
Following World War II, Leckie 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.
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. He said, "I have to tell the story of how it really was. I have to let people know the war wasn't a musical."
His first and best-selling book, Helmet for My Pillow, a war memoir, was published in 1957. Leckie wrote more than 40 books on American war history, spanning from the French and Indian War (1754âÂÂ1763) to Desert Storm (1991).
After the war, Leckie married Vera Keller, his lifelong neighbor who he had merely been acquainted with prior. The couple had three children: David, Geoff, and Joan. Vera died in 2024 aged 100.
A longtime resident of Byram Township, New Jersey, Leckie died on December 24, 2001, six days after his 81st birthday, after fighting a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. He was survived by his wife of 55 years, his three children, two sisters, and six grandchildren. His remains were entombed at St. Joseph's Mausoleum in Newton, New Jersey.