10/25/2025
An incredible story: a rare man.
On this day, 83 years ago, October 24, 1942, 25-year-old Sergeant John Basilone of the United States Marine Corps was in the fight of his life on Guadalcanal.
He served with the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, defending the vital Henderson Field airstrip against a massive Japanese assault.
Late that night, a regiment of about 3,000 Japanese troops from the Sendai Division launched a savage frontal attack on his sector, blasting the Marine lines with grenades, machine guns, and mortar fire.
The barrage was devastating: one of Basilone’s machine-gun sections was overrun and put out of action, leaving only Basilone and two other Marines still able to fight at their position.
With most of his crew dead or wounded, Basilone did not retreat – he sprang into action.
He hauled a spare heavy machine gun into position and set it up to cover the gap in the defensive line.
Under continuous enemy fire, he then repaired another damaged machine gun on the spot and personally manned it, holding down the trigger to pour relentless fire into the oncoming waves of Japanese attackers.
Sergeant Basilone fought valiantly, virtually single-handedly stopping the onrush and cutting down scores of enemy soldiers until reinforcements finally arrived to bolster his line.
Even as support arrived, the situation remained dire – Basilone’s machine guns were nearly out of ammunition and Japanese infiltrators had cut off the supply lines in the jungle darkness.
As the night wore on and ammunition ran critically low, Basilone took it upon himself to resupply his guns.
At great risk to his own life and under continued enemy attack, he battled his way through hostile lines to fetch desperately needed ammunition for his gunners.
Braving the darkness and bullets, Basilone crawled and fought approximately 200 yards through enemy territory to grab machine-gun shells – then turned around and fought his way back to his position with the supplies.
Incredibly, he made this treacherous trip not once but twice, bringing back vital ammo that kept his guns firing.
Thanks to Basilone’s fearless resupply runs, the Marine machine-gunners were able to resume a withering fire that all but annihilated the attacking Japanese regiment.
Basilone refused to yield an inch of ground.
When the last of the machine-gun ammunition was finally expended, he pulled out his .45 caliber pistol – and even grabbed a machete – to hold off the remaining enemy soldiers in the darkness.
By the time dawn broke on October 25, the area in front of Basilone’s emplacement was littered with enemy dead.
He alone was credited with killing at least 38 Japanese soldiers during the ferocious two-day battle.
He had saved countless lives and prevented a breakthrough at the defensive perimeter.
Basilone survived the brutal night, and word of his courage quickly reached the higher command.
He was officially recommended for the Medal of Honor, America’s highest military award for valor.
On May 18, 1943, during a ceremony in Australia, Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift – commanding general of the 1st Marine Division – presented the Medal of Honor to Sergeant Basilone, draping the medal’s blue ribbon around his neck before his assembled comrades.
Basilone became the first enlisted Marine of World War II to receive the Medal of Honor.
Now a national hero, Basilone was pulled from combat and sent home to the United States to help sell war bonds.
He dutifully toured the country as the face of the war effort, but he felt out of place away from the battlefield.
Declining offers of a commissioned officer’s rank and comfortable stateside assignments, Basilone repeatedly requested to return to combat with his fellow Marines.
His superiors eventually granted his wish. In late 1944, after marrying a fellow Marine, Basilone was reassigned to a deployable unit and prepared to head back into battle.
By early 1945, Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone was back in the Pacific, this time with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 27th Marines, 5th Marine Division.
On February 19, 1945, the 28-year-old Basilone landed with the first wave of Marines invading the Japanese-held island of Iwo Jima.
Unlike Guadalcanal, the Iwo Jima landing was met with murderous fire from the moment the Marines hit the beach – artillery shells, mortars, and machine guns turned the landing zone into a killing field.
Pinned down on the black volcanic sand, many Marines hugged the ground for cover, but Basilone sprang into action once again.
He exposed himself to enemy fire, rallying his machine-gun sections and any nearby Marines to get off the open beach and push forward. Under his bold leadership, they began inching inland despite the withering Japanese fire.
As the Marines advanced, they came under fire from a large Japanese blockhouse – a fortified bunker that was ripping into the American ranks.
Basilone spotted this critical threat and decided to deal with it personally.
Working his way around the enemy’s flank, he charged up to the blockhouse, climbed on top of the fortification, and attacked it single-handedly with grenades and satchel charges.
The ensuing blasts wrecked the bunker. Basilone’s one-man assault destroyed the entire strongpoint and wiped out its defending garrison, silencing the deadly machine guns inside.
Thanks to his bold action, the trapped Marines were able to get moving again.
Even then, Basilone’s bravery did not stop.
Later that day, he noticed one of the Marine M4 Sherman tanks had become bogged down in a minefield and was stuck under intense Japanese fire.
Without hesitation, Basilone ran through the shellfire to reach the stranded tank. Braving mortar and artillery explosions all around him, he guided the armored vehicle and its crew out of the minefield to safety.
Gunnery Sgt. Basilone remained at the forefront of the fight, leading his men off the beach and towards the island’s critical airfield.
It was there, at the edge of Airfield Number 1, that John Basilone’s luck finally ran out – an enemy mortar round exploded and struck him down as he advanced, killing him instantly.
John Basilone was killed in action on February 19, 1945, during the first day of the Iwo Jima invasion.
For his final act of heroism on Iwo Jima, Basilone was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, the second-highest valor award of the Marine Corps.
To this day, John Basilone remains the only enlisted Marine in World War II to have received both the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross for his valor.
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