PFC Robert Leckie: [in Leckie's 'library,' he sees Sledge picking up a Bible and chuckles] Now that explains it. You're a believer.
Eugene B. Sledge: Yes.
PFC Robert Leckie: OK, question: God created everything, right? The heavens, seven seas, Marine Corps...
[gestures to the sleeping Runner]
PFC Robert Leckie: Sleeping Beauty there...
Eugene B. Sledge: [chuckles] Even him.
PFC Robert Leckie: Land crabs, rats, mosquitoes...
Eugene B. Sledge: Mosquito's a little tough to understand, I guess.
PFC Robert Leckie: God created Japs too, right?
[Eugene's smile fades]
PFC Robert Leckie: Yellow slants who've tried to kill me on many occasions. Japs come from the garden of Eden too?
Eugene B. Sledge: Well, what we do is up to us. He gives us a choice.
PFC Robert Leckie: Free will, right. 'Cept he's God, of course, so he knows what we're gonna do before we do it.
Eugene B. Sledge: Predestination.
PFC Robert Leckie: So the whole game is fixed by the will of Gramps on his throne while we're down here for what? His entertainment? That makes us chumps, or God's a sadist and either way, I got no use for him.
Eugene B. Sledge: So what do you believe in?
PFC Robert Leckie: I believe in ammunition.
[Eugene chuckles]
PFC Robert Leckie: Tell you what, though - since I'm not on speaking terms anymore, next time you're havin' a chat with the old geezer, can you ask him to sink a few Jap transports and have 'em all fall on their bayonets so I can get the fuck out of here and go home? Sure would appreciate it.
[Eugene turns to leave and puts the Bible back]
PFC Robert Leckie: You go ahead and keep it. Don't know what I have it in the first place.
Eugene B. Sledge: No thanks.
[goes to the mouth of the tent]
Eugene B. Sledge: Got my own.
[holds it up and leaves]