Two memoirs  that informed the HBO series the Pacific offer a frank and unsentimental view of the front-line soldiers experience during WWII. Helmet For My Pillow by Robert Leckie recounts the brutal action on Guadalcanal.  With the Old Breed by E. B.  Sledge details even stiffer fighting on Peleliu and Okinawa.  The Sharp End by John Ellis and Max Hastings draws on personal accounts to sum up the front line experience.