Pfc./Cpl. Merriel "Snafu" Shelton was one of Eugene Sledge's fellow Marines. He got his nickname from his cocky personality and demeanor. Though he has already had some humanity beaten out of him by his introduction, he slowly loses even more of his humanity as the series goes on.
Snafu was born in Louisiana in 1922. He enlisted in the Marines at some point, and served along with Burgin on Cape Gloucester.
Peleliu
Snafu is first seen in a cabin with De L'Eau and Burgin when he denies Sledge and other recruits the opportunity to bunk in his tent. He is later seen supervising new recruits Eugene Sledge, Bill Leyden, and Robert Oswalt as clean oil drums, a detail he didn't need to supervise but did anyway just to give the recruits a hard time.
He later participates in the Battle of Peleliu, where he is later seen prying a dead Japanese soldier's jaw right off the skull to get some gold teeth right in front of Eugene Sledge.
Snafu is later part of the Airfield assault, though he plays almost no major part in this episode. He asks Sledge for a smoke, which Sledge obliges. It is here that Snafu gives Sledge the nickname "Sledgehammer".
Bloody Nose Ridge
Snafu in Bloody Nose Ridge
Snafu is later sent into the Peleliu hills led by Capt. Haldane. Towards the end of Snafu's time in the hills he is seen throwing small bits of corral into the partially destroyed cranium of a dead Japanese soldier. Sledge almost gets reduced to Snafu's level, about to try and pull the golden teeth out of another Japanese soldiers mouth. Snafu stops him, because he doesn't want to let Sledge lose his humanity. He tries to get Sledge to back away from the corpse by telling him that the Japs have diseases, so Sledge cuts off a unit insignia instead. After being pulled out of Peleliu Snafu is then seen going back to Pavavu with the rest of his unit, and he is presumably one of the Marines swimming just off the shores of Pavavu.
is again called upon to assist in the Battle of Okinawa, and Snafu is with them. Apparently, Snafu has been promoted to Corporal. Snafu is first seen exchanging his old poncho for replacement Pvt. Peck's poncho which leads to Peck switching his poncho with one placed over a pile 60mm mortar rounds to keep them dry. While on Okinawa Snafu still maintains his personality and loss of humanity, but is emotionally affected when he sees Hamm is killed in a suicide attempt by Hamm's fellow replacement Pvt. Peck, he holds Peck's poncho in remorse. Snafu is later seen with Sledge looking into a hut where they hear crying.Upon checking the house the crying turns out to be a baby. The baby and a dying woman is the sole survivor of a mortar shelling which Sledge believes was directed by him earlier in the battle. Snafu leaves without noticing the woman, but Sledge does and is later seen walking out of the hut after cradling the woman in her final moments. Towards the end of the Okinawa campaign Snafu is seen basking in the sunlight and having a conversation with Sledge and Burgin. The two Marines notice Sledge's lighter which used to belong to GySgt. Haney, this slightly surprising Snafu and Burgin. After the Battle of Okinawa Snafu is last seen leaving in a truck. After the war has ended Snafu is seen celebrating Victory in Japan Day with his friends, Sledge and Burgin.
Heading home
Snafu, Sledge, and Burgin later return to their respective homes in a train after some service in China. Burgin goes out first, and Snafu soon follows that night. While leaving, he noticeably wanted to talk to Sledge before doing so, but Sledge was fast asleep. Snafu instead then leaves the train holding his tongue and never speaks to his friends again for 35 years until Sledge released his memiors, "With the Old Breed At Peleliu and Okinawa". Snafu stayed in Louisiana and worked in the lumber business and air conditioning repair, married, and had two sons.
The makers of "The Pacific" took a number of 'liberites' to embellish the storyline for HBO versus what was actually written by Leckie, Sledge, Chuck Tatum and several others whom were active contributors; one point illustrated here is the "Heading Home" train ride together listed above: it NEVER happened in real life. Shelton acutally completed his tour and was shipped home in late July of 1945 - before the war had even ended. Burgin had developed a severe case of malaria in late August, while the 1st Marine Division was still on Okinawa; he was hospitalized and DID NOT go on "China duty" with the rest of the 1st Division (a sympathetic Navy doctor allowed him to stay on Okinawa, "recovering", until he had accumulated the needed points necessary to rotate back home in October and be honorably discharged from the Corps).
Death
Snafu died in 1993. Sledge was one of the pall bearers at Merriell's funeral.
Personality and Traits
Snafu after the landing on Peleliu beach
".....PFC Merriel Shelton, an excitable, small-statured youngster from south Louisiana who had arrived with the same group of replacements as Burgin and Burke. Shelton was a whiz at poker, but otherwise his primary talents involved getting confused, lost, in trouble, and generally fouled up. He would argue about anything at the slightest opportunity, and when he was agitated or inebriated, all these tendencies grew more pronounced. They were also magnified by Shelton's inability to speak understandable English at such times.
Origin of Snafu's Nickname
"How much money you got?" someone asked one day as the cattle car bounced along toward Melbourne.
Shelton laboriously counted his Australian currency for several minutes, then announced: "I t'ink I got maybe aroun' two pounds and ten ounces — plenty much for some drinks an' poker, eh?"
"You know what you are, Shelton?" Burgin said. "You're just one big snafu lookin' for a place to happen."
Everybody laughed, and the nickname stuck. Nobody in his mortar section ever called Merriel Shelton by his first name again. He was Snafu from that moment on." - Brotherhood of Heroes, Bill Sloan.
.SNAFU is an unofficial military acronym for Situation Normal, All Fucked Up, meaning that the present situation is bad, but it is a normal event, additionally, there was a lazy animated cartoon soldier called Private SNAFU.
Trivia
Snafu in Real Life
Snafu's personality in the series is primarily based off of Sledge's descriptions of marines' disturbing trophy making in his memoirs.
Snafu was a Cape Gloucester veteran before episode 5, as seen in many scenes.
The real Snafu Shelton bears a slight resemblance to Ira Hayes, the Pima flag raiser who fought on Iwo Jima.
Eugene Roe from Band of Brothers is also from Louisiana.
The real Snafu after enlistment
An older Snafu
Snafu (left), Paul Wright (middle), Sledge (right) at a 1st Marine Division reunion in 1983 in Milwauke, Wisconsin.
Merriell "SNAFU" on the right. Others are unknown. If anyone knows, please let me know.
