Who was John Basilone?

A US Marine (1916 to 1945) who received the Medal of Honor at Guadalcanal and was killed on the first day of the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Why did Basilone receive the Medal of Honor?

For keeping his machine guns in action and holding his positions against Japanese attacks at Guadalcanal on 24 to 25 October 1942.

Why was he called Manila John?

Because of his earlier service with the US Army in the Philippines.

How did John Basilone die?

He was killed on 19 February 1945, the first day of the landing on Iwo Jima, while leading his men off the beach.

Did Basilone receive the Navy Cross?

Yes, posthumously, for his actions on Iwo Jima.

John Basilone: the Marine of Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima

John Basilone could have spent the rest of the war selling bonds as a national hero. Instead he asked to go back to the fighting, and he was killed on the beaches of Iwo Jima. He remains one of the most celebrated Marines in American history.

Manila John

Born in Buffalo, New York, in 1916¹ to an Italian immigrant family and raised in Raritan, New Jersey, Basilone first served in the US Army in the Philippines, which earned him the nickname Manila John¹. In 1940 he enlisted in the Marine Corps.²

Guadalcanal, 1942

On the night of 24 to 25 October 1942³, during the battle for Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, Japanese troops attacked the line held by Basilone's machine-gun section⁴. Through the night he kept his guns firing, repaired weapons and brought up ammunition through enemy fire³ as his positions held. For this he received the Medal of Honor.

Black and white aerial photograph of an airstrip cut through jungle and grassland — Henderson Field on Guadalcanal photographed from a USS Saratoga aircraft in late August 1942, two months before Basilone's machine gunners helped hold its perimeter. US Navy photograph. Public domain

A hero at home

Sent home, Basilone toured the country raising money for war bonds and was greeted by huge crowds. He was offered safer duties, but he asked to return to the fighting units³, and in 1944 he joined the 5th Marine Division. He married Lena Riggi, a fellow Marine, that year.¹

Black and white photograph of Basilone in uniform at a microphone beneath an American flag — Basilone on the war bond campaign that followed his Medal of Honor. US Marine Corps photograph. Public domain

Iwo Jima, 1945

On 19 February 1945, the first day of the landing on³ Iwo Jima, Basilone helped his men off the crowded beach and led an attack on Japanese positions before he was killed. He was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously.³

Black and white photograph of Marines lying prone on a slope of volcanic sand under drifting smoke — Marines of the 5th Marine Division, Basilone's division, work their way up the slope from Red Beach No. 1 toward Mount Suribachi on 19 February 1945. US Marine Corps photograph. Public domain

Remembered

Basilone is often described as the only enlisted Marine of the Second World War to receive both the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross. Ships, roads and memorials bear his name, and his story reached a new generation through the television series The Pacific.

Sources and notes

Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.

Jim Proser with Jerry Cutter, I'm Staying with My Boys: The Heroic Life of Sgt. John Basilone, USMC (St. Martin's Griffin, 2010). ↩ a b c
Wikipedia, “John Basilone” ↩
Arlington National Cemetery, “John Basilone” ↩ a b c d e
Richard B. Frank, Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle (Random House, 1990). ↩
Wikipedia, “Wikipedia: Battle for Henderson Field”