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These Tough Americans Fought In WWII, Korea, and Vietnam

Khalid Elhassan August 2, 2019 23 min

Basil L. Plumley - Sgt. Maj. Basil Plumley

14. Marine Scout Sniper Walter Valentine Fought All Over the Pacific

3rd Marine Division riflemen advancing through the mud of Bougainville. World War Photos

Sergeant Major Walter Valentine joined the Marine Corps in 1942. After completing his training in Camp Lejune, he was assigned to the 3^rd Marine Division, and sent to fight as a scout sniper. He took part in the 1943 assault on Bougainville, then headed to Guadalcanal for additional combat training, before participating in the amphibious landing that recaptured Guam in 1944. The following year, Valentine fought in Iwo Jima, where he earned a Purple Heart.

Iwo Jima left another mark on Valentine: as he recalled decades later, describing one of those dramatic moments of that battle, “I will never forget the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima“. After a 5 year break from fighting, Valentine next saw combat in Korea, where he became one of the “Chosin Few”, in the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir. His next taste of combat would come a decade later, in Vietnam.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.