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Nov 43 min read

This Day in History: John Basilone's Medal of Honor

On this day in 1916, a hero is born. “Manila John” Basilone would go on to become the only Marine to earn both a Navy Cross and a Medal of Honor during World War II.

 

Yet the legendary Marine started off in the Army.

 

He was just 18 years old when he enlisted this first time. He served for three years before returning to civilian life and a job as a truck driver. His second stint in the military came in July 1940. This time, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corp.

 

Basilone’s Medal of Honor action would begin in Guadalcanal on the night of October 24-25, 1942. He was then a Sergeant commanding 16 men in two heavy machine gun sections. Our Marines had been tasked with defending an area near Henderson Field.


A Japanese force of 3,000 descended upon them that night. Needless to say, Basilone and his men were badly outnumbered.

 

Wave after wave of the enemy hit our Marines. With each, Basilone told his men to let the enemy close—within 30 yards. Once the enemy was close, they were to “let them have it.”

 

Mortar fire and grenades were raining down, but Basilone and his men were holding the enemy off—or, at least, they were at first. When one Marine gun crew was finally silenced, Basilone leapt into action, carrying 90 pounds of weapons and ammunition to the gun pit.

 

He was soon running back and forth between gun pits and ammunition stores, regardless of the risk to himself, so he could supply his men. He crawled and sprinted through enemy fire. He cleared jammed guns. He fired at the enemy, gripping the hot barrels of the machine guns, even though he’d lost his protective gloves.

 

“Basilone had a machine gun on the go for three days and nights without sleep, rest or food,” PFC Nash W. Phillips described. “He was barefooted and his eyes were red as fire. His face was dirty black from gunfire and lack of sleep. His shirt sleeves were rolled up to his shoulders. He had a .45 tucked into the waistband of his trousers. He’d just dropped by to see how I was making out; me and the others in the section. I’ll never forget him.”

 

At one point, it’s said that Basilone was taking out the enemy so fast that huge piles of bodies were piling up. That wall of bodies had to be knocked down, clearing a line of sight to continue his attack on the oncoming enemy.

 

By the time reinforcements arrived, the only men standing were Basilone and two other Marines. They’d held out against that huge Japanese force.

 

Basilone was awarded a Medal of Honor for his bravery. He returned home, a hero. Parades were held in his honor, and he was dispatched on a war bonds tour. Nevertheless, all he really wanted was to be back in action.

 

When the Marines offered him a commission and duty stateside, he refused.  At least reportedly, he said: “I ain’t no officer, and I ain’t no museum piece. I belong back with my outfit.”

 

He finally convinced the Marines to assign him to a unit that was preparing to deploy.  He was a Gunnery Sergeant when he began training for that tour of duty in December 1943.

 

That period of his life must have been bittersweet?  While there, he fell in love with and married a female Marine, Lena Mae Riggi. He shipped out a few months later and would never see her again. He was instead killed at Iwo Jima in an action that would earn him a Navy Cross.

 

Lena Mae Basilone lived to be 87 years old.  She never remarried, and she was wearing the wedding ring that “Johnny” gave her when she passed away.

 

The Basilones: TWO members of the Greatest Generation, giving all they had to give.  Don’t you think?


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