Beginning with
boot camp in
MCRD Parris Island,
South Carolina, the story follows Leckie through basic training and then to
New River,
North Carolina where he is briefly stationed, and follows him to the
Pacific. Leckie is assigned to the
1st Marine Division and is deployed to
Guadalcanal, Melbourne Australia,
New Guinea,
Cape Gloucester, before being evacuated with wounds from the island of
Peleliu.
Helmet for My Pillow is told from an enlisted man's point of view; a reprint edition stated the book was about "the booze, the brawling, the loving on 72-hour liberty, the courageous fighting and dying in combat as the U.S. Marines slugged it out, inch by inch, across the Pacific." In line with the book's poetic prose, many of the characters in the story are given aliases and are not directly identified. For example, an Australian guide to the Marines is given the name "The Digger", while a Marine war criminal experiencing a severe mental breakdown is known as "The Kid". ==Adaptations==