by James Brady
Among the multiple copies one is directed to “Public Info,” and with a brief notation at the bottom, “Raritan, New Jersey . . . Buffalo, New York,” I assume this meant that the media in those two cities, of John’s rearing and his birth, were to be notified of the honor.
It is the accuracy of details in these battle accounts of Basilone’s conduct that comes under criticism. But despite all the brass in Washington signing off on his Navy Cross, there remain to me some questions. We know Basilone was brave, a great Marine, a heroic man. But where did the blockhouse-busting grenades and demolitions come from? Was he on the blockhouse roof or down below? Was he really waving a hunting knife around? How was he sufficiently familiar with alien ground to guide that tank through the mines? Was he killed instantly by that mortar? Then why all those accounts of his living for hours, speaking with the corpsman, dictating messages to be passed on to brother George, and gradually bleeding to death? And what about that sole witness, the private who signed the citation recommendation? Where were the others? Questions remain.
Epilogue
Despite what Bertolt Brecht said, I believe having national heroes is healthy, giving us people to admire, role models, perhaps helping us to be somehow better than we are. Maybe heroes are just plain good for us; they make us feel better about ourselves, about the country, to know that among us are men and women who under pressure behave in exemplary ways and do things most of us don’t even try. And it’s not only wars that make heroes; newspapers and the local television stations regularly run features about “everyday heroes,” urging nominations. There was even a time when America really needed a hero like John Basilone.
I’m neither a scholar nor a historian, just another old newspaperman who once fought in a war, but I remain fascinated and often puzzled by John Basilone, a professional Marine machine gunner in two climactic battles, one at the very start of a Pacific war we were losing and then in a second fight near the end of a war we knew we were going to win. He was a man already dead when I was a Catholic high school boy reading about him in the Daily News, and most of what I later knew of Basilone came from Marines and Marine Corps lore and the memories of old men in New Jersey, what they told me, the black-and-white photos at the Raritan library, when they drove me to the big bronze statue and took me to visit the little frame boyhood home, to see his hangouts.
I mentioned earlier a resemblance to the youthful Sly Stallone. Basilone was Stallone’s Rambo, a real-life Rambo. And despite the wars and the years that separate the generations of Marines, I feel I knew a man I never met—because every Marine knew Manila John.
Even though . . .
More than sixty years after his death at age twenty-eight on Iwo Jima, Basilone remains an enigma. There are still questions about the famous decorations for his heroic battles. Some of these are insignificant points, matters of detail, an incorrect stat here, a confusion of names there, the chaos of battle, the tendency of loved ones to boast a little. Other questions were more substantive. This was the exasperating part of Manila John’s story.
It goes without saying that neither sergeant, Mitchell Paige nor Basilone, campaigned for a decoration of any sort, never mind the top medal we have. Marines don’t recommend themselves for awards; their superiors write them up.
The Navy Cross awarded posthumously on Iwo Jima is a strange affair, more complicated than any doubts about Guadalcanal. And being dead, Basilone can have no responsibility for what was subsequently written, said, or sworn to. The facts seem to be that Gunny Basilone, when confronted by a Japanese blockhouse, did precisely what the moment called for. He demonstrated initiative by getting a demolition assault team to send a man forward with a heavy explosive charge and another, the giant William Pegg, with the flamethrower, while Basilone’s machine gunners gave them overhead covering fire.
Sergeant Basilone did his job perfectly, and so did the demo guy and the flamethrower, as did Basilone’s machine gunners. The Japanese position fell to the combined Marine operation of explosives, flame, and machine-gun fire, and the stalled Marine drive inland got going, thanks in large part to Basilone’s gutsy, intelligent leadership.
If that’s the story, those the precise facts—and Chuck Tatum, there as a machine gunner, writes that they were—it is both rational and believable. If “Sergeant Basilone directed this operation ‘by the book,’ the way we practiced it at Pendleton and Camp Tarawa,” then why conjure up a fantastic story about how Basilone scaled the roof and single-handedly destroyed the position with grenades? Or spent his time waving a hunting knife around, taunting and capering?
Basilone made the thing happen. It wasn’t a solo performance, but it was heroic. Two other men backed up by his machine guns carried it out.
Then reread the official Navy Cross citation. The story of the tank in the minefield. Why pad the already impressive résumé? Did the Department of the Navy have so much invested in Basilone that he couldn’t just die, he had to die gloriously, capable of superhuman feats? Maybe they had to make it up to America for permitting its hero to go back one more time to the battle. How else do you justify an official citation signed off by so many while so rife with apparent exaggerations?
Maybe, as has been charged, the Basilone of the war bond tour, with his handlers and packaged speeches and appearances, was to an extent a product marketed and merchandised by imaginative young officers doing PR for the Marine Corps. They were out to sell inspiration to a country that needed heroes, and Basilone must have looked like a good bet, a superior salesman. The kid out of Raritan was everyman from everywhere, an ordinary Joe, a small-town American; the darkly handsome, undefeated boxer Manila John, a poker-playing roughneck from the caddy shack, the guy with a knockout punch—and that marketable nickname. If this is true, none of it was Basilone’s idea.
Basilone has surely been ill served even by people who loved him, family and friends, and by others, publicity professionals and inventive journalists, who damaged his reputation with fanciful stories and memoirs, their cartoon-styled exaggerations of feats of arms never performed, the hero lost behind his deeds.
The Basilone statue in Raritan, New Jersey, haloed by the sun.
But this is what makes him a legend and an American icon. Maybe we should just embrace the colorful lore, memorialize John Basilone as a Marine and honor his service, take him on faith, forget the disputation and the skeptical theories, mine and others, and just love the guy, saluting him with a well-earned and final Semper Fidelis. Always faithful. Perhaps we should leave it just as simple and as wonderful as that.
Bibliography
This bibliography was compiled from the author’s notes after his passing. Any omissions or inaccuracies are, therefore, those of the editor.
Alexander, Joseph H. Closing In: Marines in the Seizure of Iwo Jima. Washington, DC: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps [Supt. of Docs., U.S. GPO, distributor], 1994.
Alexander, Joseph H., with Don Horan and Norman C. Stahl. A Fellowship of Valor: The Battle History of the U.S. Marines. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.
Doorly, Bruce W. Raritan’s Hero: The John Basilone Story. Privately published.
Lansford, William Douglas. “The Life and Death of ‘Manila John’ Basilone.” Leatherneck. October 2002.
Leckie, Robert. Challenge for the Pacific: The Bloody Six-Month Battle of Guadalcanal. New York: Da Capo, 1999. ———. Helmet for My Pillow. New York: Bantam, 1995.
Paige, Mitchell. A Marine Named Mitch. Santa Fe Springs, CA: Wylde & Sons, 1975.
Proser, Jim, with Jerry Cutter. “I’m Staying with My Boys . . .”: The Heroic Life of Sgt. John Basilone, USMC. Hilton Head, SC: Lightbearer Communications, 2004.
Santelli, James S. A Brief History of the 7th Marines. Washington, DC: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1980.
Shaw, Henry I., Jr. First Offensive: The Marine Campaign for Guadalcanal. Washington, DC: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps [
Supt. of Docs., U.S. GPO, distributor], 1992.
Sledge, Eugene. With the Old Breed, at Peleliu and Okinawa. New York: Bantam, 1982.
Tatum, Charles W. Iwo Jima: 19, February, 1945, Red Blood, Black Sand, Pacific Apocalypse. Stockton, CA: C.W. Tatum Pub., 1995.
Tillman, Mary, and Narda Zacchino. Boots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman. New York: Modern Times, 2008.
United States Marine Corps, Historical Division. Lieutenant Colonel Frank O. Hough, USMCR; Major Verle E. Ludwig, USMC; and Henry I. Shaw Jr. History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II: Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal, vol. I. Washington: GPO, 1958.
Illustration Credits
Page xi, AP Images; pages 14, 180, USMC; pages 78, 126, Leatherneck magazine; page 218, © Bettman/CORBIS; page 238, Bruce Doorly.
Index
Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations.
Albany, New York
Alexander, Joe
Allbritton, Louise
Alvino, Lawrence “Cookie Hound”
American Civil War
American Cyanamid
American Revolution
Amtrac 3C27
Andrews Sisters
ANZAC
Aquilina, Robert V.
Arlington National Cemetery
Arnold, Laurence
Australia
Australian casualties at Guadalcanal
Basilone in
Congressional Medal of Honor ceremony held in
1st Battalionh Marine Regiment in
Japan’s World War II threat to
“Back the Attack” slogan
Baldwin, Raymond E.
Basilone, Alphonse (brother)
Basilone, Angelo (brother)
Basilone, Carlo (brother)
Basilone, Dolores (sister)
on brother’s death
death of
views on Ed Sullivan
Basilone, Donald (brother)
Basilone, Dora (Bengivenga) (mother)
biographical information
notified of son’s death
at son’s burial
Basilone, George (brother)
Battle of Iwo Jima and
concerns for brother’s safety
notified of brother’s death
Basilone, Lena Riggi (wife)
Basilone family and
courtship with Basilone
death of
marriage to Basilone
Basilone, “Manila” John
accounts of Guadalcanal events and
in Army
in Australia
barefoot preference of
biographical information
boxing career of
burial of
at Camp Pendleton
at Camp Tarawa
civilian jobs of
commission offered to
Congressional Medal of Honor awarded to
continuing controversy about
correspondence with family
death of
drinking by
on fame
gambling and
legacy of
Marine enlistment by
marriage of
Navy Cross awarded to
nickname of
nightmares suffered by
Paige, Mitchell, and
promotions of
Puller and
at Quantico
reported premonitions of
return to combat by
romantic life of
on Samoa
second Congressional Medal of Honor recommendation
statue of
tattoos
on war bond tour
Basilone, Mary (sister)
Basilone, Phyllis (sister). See Cutter, Phyllis Basilone
Basilone, Salvatore (father)
biographical information
business of
notified of son’s death
on son’s Army enlistment
at son’s burial
on son’s Marine Corps enlistment
Basilone Day (September 19, 1943)
Basilone Parade
Basilone Road, Camp Pendleton
Bataan Peninsula, Philippines
battles. See Coral Sea, Battle of; Guadalcanal, Battle of; Iwo Jima, Battle of; Midway, Battle of
Belt, Ralph
Bengivenga, Carlo
Bengivenga, Catrina
Bengivenga, Dora. See Basilone, Dora (Bengivenga) (mother)
Bisonette, Biz
Bloody Ridge (Edson’s Ridge) . See also Guadalcanal, Battle of
Blyth, Ann
Bongiovi, Anna Marie
Bongiovi, Anthony G., Sr.
Bon Jovi, Jon
Bougainville
Bowie, James
Bracken, Eddie
Bradley, Reverend Paul
Brady, Jim
Bridgewater (NJ) Courier-News
Bridgewater-Raritan High School
Briggs, Ralph, Jr.
brothels
Browning .30-caliber M1917A1 machine gun
Brusa, Adolph
Budemy, Frank
Bullard (Marine)
Burns, Ken
Butler, John
Calabrese, Rocky
Calco Chemical Division, American Cyanamid
Camp Lejeune
Camp Pendleton
Camp Tarawa
Cape Gloucester
Carlsbad Hotel
Carolines. See also Iwo Jima; Luzon, Philippines; Truk
Cates, Clifton B.
Cavite, Philippines
Chafee, John
China
Cianciella, Josephine
Cirello, Tony
Clemens, Martin
Closing In: Marines in the Seizure of Iwo Jima (Alexander)
“coast watchers”
Cohen, Schiller
Collier’s
Congressional Medal of Honor
awarded to Mitchell Paige
Conoley, Odell M.
Coral Sea, Battle of
Cornwallis, Lord
Cornwell, Elmer
Corregidor, Philippines
Creak, Robert J.
Culebra, Puerto Rico
Curley, Charles
Cutter, Bill
Cutter, Jerry
on Basilone’s Army service
on Basilone’s childhood
on Basilone’s death
on Basilone’s Marine service
on Basilone’s romantic life
on Guadalcanal events
views on war bond tour
Cutter, Phyllis Basilone
on Basilone’s Army service
on Basilone’s childhood
on Basilone’s death
on Basilone’s Marine service
on Basilone’s views of New York City
on Guadalcanal events
views on war bond tour
D-Day
Del Rocco, Steve
del Valle, Pedro
Dinah Might (B-29 bomber)
Doorly, Bruce W.
on Basilone’s burial
on Basilone’s childhood
on Basilone’s death
on Basilone’s fame
on Basilone’s funeral
on Basilone’s Marine service
at brother’s burial
Grey interviewed by
on Guadalcanal events
on Iwo Jima events
views on war bond tour
Duke, Doris (Cromwell)
Dunlap, Alvin C.
Duryea, Justin Gates
Edge, Walter
Edson, Merrill A. “Red Mike”
Congressional Medal of Honor awarded to
5th Marine Regiment commanded by
Elsner, Roy
Evans, “Chicken”
Evanson, Steve
Farese, Tony
Fellows, Edith
5th Marine Division
at Camp Tarawa
>
formation of
training by Basilone and See also Iwo Jima, Battle of
“Filipino Scouts”
1st Battalionh Marine Regiment
in Australia
casualties suffered by
1st Marine Division (“Old Breed”)
First Offensive (Shaw)
Fitzgerald, F. Scott
Fleet Marine Force Pacific (FMF PAC)
Fletcher, Jack
“fog of war”
Ford, Walt
Forrestal, James V.
Fort Jay
4th Marine Division
Fox, John
Fox Movietone News
Franchino, Charles
Frelinghuysen, Joseph
From Here to Eternity
Fuller, Regan
Gable, Clark
Gaburo, Alfred
Gaburo’s Laundry
Gai, Hector R., Jr.
Galer, Robert E.
gambling
Garand M1 semiautomatic rifles
Garfield, John
Garland (Marine)
Gavutu
Geiger, Roy
Gemmer, Ward L.
Germany, surrender of
Ghormley, Robert
Giniger, Henry
Golden, James
Governor’s Island
Graham (priest)
Grant, Ulysses S.
Great Gatsby, The (Fitzgerald)
Grey, Virginia
Guadalcanal, Battle of
Basilone’s actions at
map
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Hall, Robert
Halsey, William “Bull”
Hanks, Tom
Hanneken, Herman Henry
Hartman, Ed
Hawaii
Helstowski, Helen
Helstowski, Steve
Henderson, Lofton R.
Henderson Field . See also Guadalcanal, Battle of
Hersholt, Gene
History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II, volume 1, Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal