Hero of the Pacific by James Brady

Author:James Brady
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Published: 2011-12-08T17:15:09+00:00

PART THREE

HOME FRONT

Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift, Colonel Merritt A. Edson, Platoon Sergeant Mitchell Paige, and Sergeant John Basilone after receiving their Congressional Medals of Honor at Camp Balcombe, in Australia, May 21, 1943, for their heroism at Guadalcanal.

17

The Marine Corps finally, in midsummer of 1943, after much backing and filling, made up its mind. John Basilone was being sent back to the States.

“The day officer came in one day and handed me orders, [to] separate from my unit. I was shipping out, going home. I was to report to Marine headquarters in New York City. There were no further instructions. Talking about coming from left field, I had to read the damn thing three times. I was going home. It didn’t make any sense. My guys are gearing up for operations and I’m shipping out? [Bob] Powell looked at me as if I was Jesus H. Christ himself. He gave me his folks’ address in New Haven and for a minute I thought he was going to cry. Nobody even thought seriously about home and not even in a dream. But here it was in front of me and I was going. . . . The orders said now, so I packed my sea bag.” Basilone’s mood had changed, his earlier elation over the medal’s being a sure “ticket home” had evaporated. He would be going home, but now reluctantly.

It’s exasperating that nowhere do we have a date for the man’s departure. It probably was July. Basilone’s service record book shows that he was promoted to temporary platoon sergeant on June 1, 1943, and the entry on the next line, partly illegible, indicates he sailed on the twenty-seventh (it had to be July) via the ship Rochambeau. In the next service record book entry, Basilone reports into Marine barracks at the Washington, D.C., Navy Yard on August 31, 1943. Furloughs might logically fill in the gaps covering most of August. The medal ceremony had been on May 21, 1943. Yet there was no official news about it until June 23 when it was released to the national press. The New York Times ran its front-page story on June 24, under a headline that read, “Slew 38 Japanese in one battle; Jersey Marine gets honor medal.” The lead read, “The son of an Italian-born tailor in New Jersey took his place tonight among the great American war heroes, when a Marine Corps platoon sergeant, John Basilone of Raritan, 26, one of a family of ten children, was cited for the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest tribute the nation can bestow on its fighting sons.” John’s letter to the family telling about the medal was dated June 12, and they received it June 21, did not understand its significance, and therefore didn’t really react until the news broke in newspapers on the twenty-third or (as in the Times) the twenty-fourth of June.

Bruce Doorly in his monograph notes, “In July of 1943, John was notified that he was being sent home, but there was a catch to it.

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