John Basilone: The WWII Hero America Needed

For the first few months of the War in the Pacific, the Japanese Navy and Imperial Marines rapidly occupied Allied positions in the Pacific. The Philippines had fallen, along with British Malaysia and the Dutch East Indies. In August 1942, the Allies got word that the Japanese were constructing a major airfield on the island of Guadalcanal that would bring Australia within range of Japanese bombers. If left unchecked, the Japanese might even be able to invade Australia itself. The Allies couldn’t let that happen and US Marines were dispatched to see that it didn’t.

The Marines launched a massive amphibious invasion of the island, storming the beaches and driving the Japanese defenders deep into the jungle-covered heights. As the Marines took control of the beachhead, they set to building an airfield to help support further operations, calling it Henderson Field after an Allied Airman who had recently been killed. But that October, 15,000 fresh Japanese troops landed on the island to reinforce the defenders.

Over the next few weeks, the Japanese quietly moved into position around Henderson Field against which they would launch the main force of a devastating counter-attack. And that was where John Basilone and his men of “D” company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines found themselves on the night of October 24th. Basilone patrolled the perimeter of the field, peering into the inky-black Jungle, struggling against the calls of tropical birds and the swarming insects to detect the sound of approaching Japanese.

Suddenly, out of the jungle came a deafening cry of “Banzai,” or ten thousand years for the Emperor, as 3,000 Japanese troops of the Sendai division hurled themselves at the wire surrounding Basilone’s position. Rifles barked to life as Basilone leaped behind his heavy Browning machine gun and poured withering fire into the charging Japanese. Within five minutes, the night grew silent. Basilone’s men looked over their defenses to see over two hundred of the enemy lay dying on the field. Basilone’s quick thinking and accurate fire had completely broken the first wave. The respite Basilone had won wouldn’t last. And within the shadows, the next wave of Japanese picked up the cry and began charging towards the American position. The Japanese were fanatical in their devotion to their nation and their emperor, offering their bodies as a sacrifice to victory.

The unrelenting tide of their assault began to overwhelm American positions. Basilone watched as his defenses began to falter and his men were crippled by shrapnel from Japanese grenades. And worst of all, ammunition was beginning to run low. Unholstering his .45, Basilone rushed through Japanese lines, firing point-blank at the enemy. He ran from position to position, bringing much-needed ammunition and repositioning machine guns to where they were needed most. Over the course of the next few hours, thousands of men died in some of the most intense fightings of the war. Dawn broke and the Japanese withdrew, but for Basilone and his men, the fight had just begun.

If the men of “D” company hoped that the morning would bring peace from the Japanese attacks, they were soon disappointed. The human wave attacks continued throughout the morning as the Marines fought desperately to survive. And as the Japanese fell before the American guns, Basilone realized his men faced a new problem. The dead were beginning to pile up in front of their position, creating a wall of corpses that allowed the enemy to creep closer out of sight before swarming over the dead and trying to overwhelm the Marines with bayonets.

Basilone jumped into action again, using breaks in the fighting to clear bodies out of the way, often under heavy fire, before returning to coordinate the defense and clear jams from the machine guns. And as the fighting continued on the ground, Japanese planes came screaming through the air. Mitsubishi Zeros launched strafing attacks and dive bombers dropped heavy explosives on the runway of Henderson Field, preventing Allied planes from getting airborne.

The fighting continued nonstop for two days as the Marines struggled without food or water. By the time the smoke cleared on the final day, an entire regiment of Japanese soldiers lay dead and the fight for Guadalcanal was essentially over. After word of Basilone’s actions spread throughout the Corps, he was nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor. And after the American public heard of Basilone’s heroism, he became a major celebrity. The Marines decided that Basilone was needed back home, where he gave speeches to packed audience halls calling on everyone to buy war bonds to help fund the war effort. But once again, Basilone felt the call to action. He couldn’t abide staying at home while his men fought and died in the Pacific.

After months of lobbying the military, Basilone was finally transferred back to active duty and sent to join a Marine regiment preparing to invade the southern Japanese island of Iwo Jima. Iwo Jima was to serve as one of the final staging areas for an invasion of the Japanese Home Islands. Taking Iwo Jima would be one of the final nails in the coffin for the Japanese war effort. The Imperial Navy knew this as well as the Americans and so they resolved to hold the island at any cost. They dug extensive fortifications into the volcanic rock and swore to hold them to the last man.

Basilone joined the other Marines in the early stages of the assault. Basilone led his men in their assault on the Japanese positions. As the Marines stormed up the beaches and into the heights, Basilone personally destroyed several Japanese bunkers with grenades and machine-gun fire. But as he led the charge, mortar fire exploded nearby, launching razor-sharp shrapnel into Basilone. The wound proved fatal, and Basilone fell on Iwo Jima along with hundreds of other marines. But his heroism in battle provided an example of courage that inspired the nation through one of the darkest hours in world history.