Begging the webmasters indulgence, I am posting this message because I know many of you are interested in other periods of history, and would like to see this program about a great Alabamian. I received this message today from my alma mater:

The University received word today that The History Channel will air an hour-long special on Eugene B. Sledge, who served as a private in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II, and who wrote a book about his war-time
experiences.

Sledge, who served in a rifle company, spent four months engaged in close combat with the Japanese. Years later, the man called "Sledgehammer" by his buddies wrote a book from notes scribbled in a Bible he carried into battle. With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa, has been hailed as the finest account of an enlisted man's war ever written.

The program, titled "Sledgehammer: Old Breed Marine," will air on Tuesday, Nov. 6, from 8-9 p.m. CST, and again on Wednesday, Nov 7, from midnight-1 a.m. CST. The program can be viewed on The History Channel.

Sledge, who died before the segment was completed, was a long-time professor of biology at the University of Montevallo.