John Basilone: The Marine Corps Medal of Honor Recipient & Hero of Guadalcanal & Iwo Jima.

Welcome back everyone.  On today's episode of Duty & Valor, I’ll tell you the story of a man who enlisted in the US Army and then the Marine Corps, where he fought in two of the major battles in the Pacific during WWII.  A man who led his outnumbered men in defending a key position during the Battle of Guadalcanal.  A man whose courageous acts would save the lives of his beleaguered men.  This is the story of Medal of Honor recipient USMC Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone.  

John was born on November 4th, 1916 in Buffalo, NY.  He was born into a large family as the sixth oldest of ten children to parents Salvatore and Theadora Basilone.  The family was originally from Raritan, NJ and they chose to move back there when John was two years old.  In New Jersey he attended St. Bernard Parochial School before dropping out of high school

John was destined for more and he chose to enlist in the US Army in 1934.  While in the Army he was a member of the 16th and then the 31st Infantry Regiments.   And it was during his Army service that he was sent to, and fell in love with the Philippines.  There he began building his leadership skills, as well as his weapons proficiency.  He is also well known for being a champion boxer during his time in Manila.  John was discharged following his three year enlistment and he returned home.  He took a job as a truck driver, but over the next three years, he longed to return to the Philippines.  He knew the quickest way to achieve this was to enlist in the US Marine Corps, rather than the Army.         

John enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1940.  Following initial military training, he was stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  But when the US entered WWII, he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division and they deployed to Guadalcanal in September 1942.  Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands saw some of the fiercest fighting in the Pacific, and John was right in the middle of it.

American forces had previously captured an airfield that the Japanese were constructing, and they renamed it Henderson Field.  And it was there that John was part of a heavily outnumbered American force that was defending it from a Japanese assault.   Oct. 24th, 1942, was a rainy day and the island was covered in mud.   And that night a multi-day attack by 3,000 soldiers of the 2nd Division of the Imperial Army of Japan commenced.  The Japanese were determined to recapture the airfield, but John, his unit, and the other Marines were just as determined to stop them.  

John was in direct command of two lines of 30mm heavy machine guns and its fifteen men.  They were placed in a position guarding a narrow pass by a river, a pass that the Japanese needed to cross as part of their plan to reach the airfield.   They attacked the American position with mortar, grenade, and machine gun fire as they sent waves of men racing right at the American lines.  The first men reached the razor wire perimeter where they were killed, but the subsequent men used them as a sort of bridge to cross the barbed wire, which allowed the assault to continue towards the Americans.  Wave after wave Japanese soldiers fell, but they kept up their fierce assault on the Americans. 

During the nighttime attack, one of the guns was taken out by the Japanese.  Knowing this could be disastrous, John then put an extra heavy machine gun on his shoulder and faced heavy enemy fire as he raced to place it into action.  

The Japanese continued their assault through the night and at times were within arms reach of the American gun emplacements.  They were firing weapons and lobbing grenades as they raced towards the Americans.  When they were in close combat they would attack with their bayonets.  This led John to place his Colt .45 within easy reach, and when he heard shouts of “look out”, he would instinctively grab it and take aim at the closest Japanese soldier, shooting them before they could injure or kill John or his men.   

As the battle raged on, the Americans were dangerously low on ammunition at dawn of the second day.  Their supply lines were compromised and much of their ammunition stores were behind the enemy lines.  John risked his life and fought his way through the attacking enemy to gather and distribute ammo to his gunners.  He was also continually swapping out barrels, repairing the guns, and clearing their ammo belts of mud, in an effort to keep the guns firing at the relentless attack.  At one point, he also found and repaired another gun and manned it himself.  

The number of dead and dying attackers were increasing to the point where they were piling up so high in front of the gun emplacements, that the gun crews had to reposition their guns in order to shoot over them.  Shortly before the final Japanese charge, the battle had quieted down.  This gave the Americans a chance to prepare their guns and themselves for the attack they knew would be coming.

The Japanese soldiers and their officers made one final attempt to breach the American line.  They were screaming as they raced toward John and his men, while firing their rifles and throwing grenades at a near non-stop rate.  But the Americans had placed their guns so that the Japanese were charging, and sometimes crawling, into a cross fire which stopped them from ever breaching the American line.  By the time reinforcements arrived at 0500 on the second day, John was left fighting with only his Colt .45 and a machete.  He was credited with killing at least 38 enemy fighters, as they were found directly in front of his gun emplacement.  

The Japanese failed to recapture the airfield and they never made any other serious attempts to do so.  

Sgt. Basilone’s valiant actions during this battle led him to be awarded the Medal of Honor at a ceremony in Australia in May of 1943.

On September 19th, Sgt. Basilone returned home where a crowd of approximately 30,000 greeted him with a hero’s welcome.  He was then sent across the US on a war bond tour, but he never felt comfortable and asked to return to the war front.  His request was denied and he was even offered a commission as an officer, and a position as an instructor to remain home and raise money for the war effort.  He graciously declined both offers and continued his appeal to return to his men.  His request was eventually approved and he reenlisted in the Marine Corps in July of 1944.

John was at Camp Pendleton, CA for training when he met Lena Riggi, a sergeant in the US Marine Corps Women’s Reserve.  The two quickly fell in love and soon married, just before his return to combat.

Sgt. Basilone was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 27th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division and was with them on the day that the Invasion of Iwo Jima began on February 19th, 1945.  The Battle of Iwo Jima would end up being one of the bloodiest battles of WWII.  The Americans wanted to capture the island and its two airfields.  The goal was to use these airfields to launch bomber attacks against the Japanese homeland.  

Sgt. Basilone was again the leader of a machine gun section.  His leadership and combat experience was instrumental in leading the inexperienced younger Marines.  They faced heavy enemy fire from blockhouses.  These blockhouses were small single building fortifications that were positioned across the island.  They were also placed in a way to concentrate fire towards any attacking force.

With his unit pinned down, Sgt. Basilone maneuvered close to a blockhouse and was able to get on top of it.  He was able to throw grenades into it before single-handedly destroying it with explosives.  This allowed the attacking Marines to continue their push towards the airfields.

As Sgt. Basilone and his unit made it close to one of the airfields, called Central One, he spotted a tank that was trapped in a minefield.  He braved heavy enemy fire from rifles, mortar and artillery, but he was able to guide the tank through the minefield.    

Sadly, soon after he was at the edge of the airfield when he, along with four men of his unit,  were struck and killed by shrapnel from an enemy mortar round.  It was reported that Sgt. Basilone was only on Iwo Jima for a few hours before being killed in action.  However, the small amount of time he spent on the island didn’t speak to his actions.  He was posthumously awarded a purple heart and Navy Cross for his valor in combat.

Gunnery Sgt. Basilone returned to the US where he was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. 

To learn more about Sgt. John Basilone’s story, there are many well written accounts of his military career and life and I’ll add links to these books in the show notes.

Thank you for listening, and if you enjoyed this week's show, we kindly ask that you follow us and leave a review and 5 star rating.  A link to the sources for today's show can be found in the show notes, as well as at dutyandvalor.com.  And join us next week where we’ll tell you the story of another true American hero.