Why did Basilone receive the Medal of Honor?

For holding his line with two sections of heavy machine guns against a Japanese attack on 24 to 25 October 1942: he kept his guns firing, repaired and manned them, and fought his way through enemy lines to bring his gunners ammunition.

Why was he called Manila John?

Because of his earlier service with the US Army in the Philippines, before he joined the Marines.

What did Basilone do on Iwo Jima?

Serving as a machine-gun section leader on the first day of the landing, he destroyed a Japanese blockhouse that had his unit pinned down and then guided a Marine tank through a minefield before he was killed. He received the Navy Cross posthumously.

Was Basilone the only Marine with both the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross?

He was the only enlisted Marine of World War II to receive both.

Where is John Basilone buried?

At Arlington National Cemetery, where his remains were reburied after the war.

John Basilone: the Marine of Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima

Q: Who was John Basilone?

A US Marine gunnery sergeant (1916 to 1945) who received the Medal of Honor for his machine guns' stand at Guadalcanal in October 1942 and was killed on the first day of the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Q: How did John Basilone die?

He was killed on 19 February 1945, the first day of the landing on Iwo Jima. The National Museum of the Marine Corps says he was hit by small-arms fire; a tribute in the Congressional Record says an artillery round killed him and several of his men.

US Marine Corps photograph, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain (US government work).

Quick answer

Who was John Basilone?

John Basilone was a US Marine who received the Medal of Honor for holding his machine-gun positions against Japanese attacks on Guadalcanal on 24 to 25 October 1942. After a hero's welcome and a war bond tour at home, he asked to go back to the fighting and was killed on 19 February 1945, the first day of the landing on Iwo Jima. He received the Navy Cross posthumously, the only enlisted Marine of the war to hold both decorations.¹

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, saying he was just "a plain soldier," and he was killed on the black sand of Iwo Jima. He remains one of the most celebrated Marines in American history.²

Raritan

Basilone was born in Buffalo, New York, on 4 November 1916, into an Italian immigrant family that settled in Raritan, New Jersey, where he grew up. He left school without finishing high school.³

Manila John

He enlisted in the US Army in the mid-1930s, in 1934 according to the Marine Corps Museum and in 1936 according to the Navy's historians, and served in the Philippines. Those years gave him the nickname that followed him through the Marine Corps: "Manila John." After the Army he drove a truck for a time, and in July 1940 he joined the Marines.⁴

He made corporal and then sergeant and served at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. By the autumn of 1942 he was a machine-gun sergeant in the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, on Guadalcanal.⁵

Guadalcanal

The Marines had landed on Guadalcanal in August 1942 and seized the airfield the Japanese were building, Henderson Field. Through the autumn the Japanese poured in reinforcements to take it back, and in late October they launched a great offensive against the perimeter.⁶

Basilone's battalion, the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, held part of the perimeter around the airfield.⁷

Four maps of Guadalcanal showing the landings and the battles around the airfield — The Guadalcanal campaign of 1942: the initial landings, the attack on Bloody Ridge in September and the Japanese counteroffensive of October around Henderson Field, from the US Military Academy atlas. Public domain (US government work). Department of History, US Military Academy, via Wikimedia Commons.

The night of 24 October

On the night of 24 to 25 October 1942 the Japanese struck the battalion's line. Basilone was in charge of two sections of heavy machine guns. One section was put out of action, its crews blasted with grenades and mortar fire until only two men could fight. He moved an extra gun into position, repaired another under continual fire and manned it himself, and when ammunition ran critically low and the supply lines were cut, he fought his way through the Japanese to bring shells to his gunners.⁸

A two-story wooden building with corrugated iron roofs and a sign reading Henderson Field U.S. Marine Corps over the door, with Marines and sailors sitting on a bench in front and palm trees on the horizon. — The Pagoda, the flight operations headquarters at Henderson Field, in 1942. It was later bulldozed; Basilone's machine gunners helped hold the airfield's perimeter in late October. US Marine Corps photograph. Public domain

The line held. Basilone's citation credits him with contributing "in large measure to the virtual annihilation of a Japanese regiment," and by the accounts of both the Marine Corps Museum and the New Jersey Hall of Fame only he and two other Marines of his sections were still standing at the end.⁹

For his actions he received the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest decoration for valor.¹⁰ › Guadalcanal Campaign, 1942 to 1943

A hero at home

The Medal of Honor made Basilone famous. He was sent home to take part in war bond tours, and his hometown of Raritan gave him a hero's welcome with a huge parade that drew national press coverage.¹¹

John Basilone in uniform at a microphone beneath an American flag during his war bond campaign, in black and white — Basilone on the war bond campaign that followed his Medal of Honor. US Marine Corps photograph. Public domain (US government work). US Marine Corps photograph, via Wikimedia Commons.

He could have stayed. Instead, he said he was just "a plain soldier" who belonged with his unit, and asked to return to combat.¹²

Back to the fleet

At Camp Pendleton in California he met Sergeant Lena Mae Riggi of the Marine Corps Women's Reserve, and they married in 1944. At the end of the year Basilone got the fleet duty he had asked for, with the new 5th Marine Division, which was bound for Iwo Jima.¹³

Iwo Jima

On the morning of 19 February 1945 the Marines landed on Iwo Jima. Basilone came ashore as a machine-gun section leader, and the Japanese poured fire on the landing Marines from fortified positions.¹⁴

With his unit pinned down, Basilone worked his way around a Japanese blockhouse and destroyed it with grenades and explosives. Moving inland, he guided a Marine tank trapped in a minefield to safety under heavy fire, and then he was killed. Accounts of his death differ: the National Museum of the Marine Corps says he was hit by small-arms fire, while a tribute in the Congressional Record says an artillery round killed him and several men of his platoon.¹⁵

Gridded military map of the pear-shaped island of Iwo Jima with defense symbols and a legend — A US special air and gunnery target map of Iwo Jima from October 1944, marking the island's airfields and Japanese defenses ahead of the invasion. Public domain

For his actions that morning he was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously. Four days later Marines of his division raised the flag on Mount Suribachi, among them the Pima Marine Ira Hayes.¹⁶ › Battle of Iwo Jima, 1945

The sergeant's way

Basilone never commanded more than a section or two of guns, but his way of leading was plain in both of his great actions. He moved to wherever the fight was worst, did the work of his gunners himself when they fell, and took on the most dangerous job, the run for ammunition or the attack on a blockhouse, rather than ordering someone else to do it.¹⁷

Legacy and memory

After the war Basilone's remains were reburied at Arlington National Cemetery. He is the only enlisted Marine of World War II to have received both the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross.¹⁸

The Navy named a destroyer, USS Basilone (DD-824), in his honor, and Raritan still holds a parade in his memory.¹⁹

Offered a safe tour at home, he asked to go back: a plain soldier, he said.

Read about the Guadalcanal campaign and the Battle of Iwo Jima, meet another 1st Marine Division legend, Chesty Puller, explore World War II, or see what else happened on 19 February.

Notes

A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.

National Museum of the Marine Corps, “John Basilone”; Arlington National Cemetery, “John Basilone”. ↩
Arlington National Cemetery, “John Basilone”; Congressional Record. ↩
National Museum of the Marine Corps, “John Basilone”; Naval History and Heritage Command, “Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone, USMC”; New Jersey Hall of Fame, “John Basilone”; Congressional Record. ↩
National Museum of the Marine Corps, “John Basilone”; Naval History and Heritage Command, “Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone, USMC”; Congressional Record; New Jersey Hall of Fame, “John Basilone”. ↩
National Museum of the Marine Corps, “John Basilone”; Naval History and Heritage Command, “Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone, USMC”; Arlington National Cemetery, “John Basilone”. ↩
John Miller Jr., Guadalcanal; Naval History and Heritage Command, “Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone, USMC”; New Jersey Hall of Fame, “John Basilone”. ↩
John Miller Jr., Guadalcanal; Arlington National Cemetery, “John Basilone”. ↩
Arlington National Cemetery, “John Basilone”; National Museum of the Marine Corps, “John Basilone”; New Jersey Hall of Fame, “John Basilone”; Congressional Record. ↩
Arlington National Cemetery, “John Basilone”; National Museum of the Marine Corps, “John Basilone”; New Jersey Hall of Fame, “John Basilone”. ↩
Arlington National Cemetery, “John Basilone”; Naval History and Heritage Command, “Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone, USMC”. ↩
National Museum of the Marine Corps, “John Basilone”; Arlington National Cemetery, “John Basilone”; New Jersey Hall of Fame, “John Basilone”; Congressional Record. ↩
Arlington National Cemetery, “John Basilone”; Congressional Record; New Jersey Hall of Fame, “John Basilone”. ↩
National Museum of the Marine Corps, “John Basilone”; New Jersey Hall of Fame, “John Basilone”; Congressional Record. ↩
National Museum of the Marine Corps, “John Basilone”; National Park Service, “History of the Marine Corps War Memorial”; New Jersey Hall of Fame, “John Basilone”. ↩
National Museum of the Marine Corps, “John Basilone”; New Jersey Hall of Fame, “John Basilone”; Congressional Record. ↩
National Museum of the Marine Corps, “John Basilone”; New Jersey Hall of Fame, “John Basilone”; National Park Service, “History of the Marine Corps War Memorial”. ↩
Arlington National Cemetery, “John Basilone”; National Museum of the Marine Corps, “John Basilone”; New Jersey Hall of Fame, “John Basilone”. ↩
National Museum of the Marine Corps, “John Basilone”; Arlington National Cemetery, “John Basilone”; Congressional Record. ↩
National Museum of the Marine Corps, “John Basilone”; Naval History and Heritage Command, “Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone, USMC”; New Jersey Hall of Fame, “John Basilone”; Congressional Record. ↩

Sources

National Museum of the Marine Corps, “John Basilone: ‘Manila John’” (education handout, PDF)
Arlington National Cemetery, “John Basilone” (with the Medal of Honor citation)
Congressional Record, vol. 151 (2005), part 20, “Honoring Sgt. John Basilone, ‘A Plain Soldier,’ and Three Other Marine Legends”
Naval History and Heritage Command, “Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone, USMC”
New Jersey Hall of Fame, “John Basilone”
John Miller Jr., Guadalcanal: The First Offensive (US Army Center of Military History, 1949), chapter VI, HyperWar edition
National Park Service, George Washington Memorial Parkway, “History of the Marine Corps War Memorial”