Page 32 - Senior Link Magazine Fall 2021- Online Magazine

Harold Douglas 100-Year-Old
n August 13, 1940,
Harold J. Douglas
Owalked into the Armed
Forces Recruiting Office in
downtown Lubbock and joined
the Marines. “I was this poor
19-year-old kid, just graduated
from Shallowater High School;
I had no real opportunities in
life and felt that being a Marine
might give me a new purpose
and direction.” Following basic
training, Harold was stationed at
Bainbridge Naval Radio Station
#8 at Port Blakely, Washington
(near Seattle). While serving as
an MP, Harold and his company
received word, on December
7, 1941, that Japanese forces
had attacked Pearl Harbor in
Hawaii. Only hours before, the
very military radio station he
had been protecting had relayed
the deceptive peace negotiations
sent to Washington DC by the
Japanese leaders. In the days that
followed, Harold recalled that
“rumors, confusion, uncertainty
and anger gripped the nation;
and military and government
leaders alike feared that a
Japanese attack on the American
West Coast was imminent.”
32 Lubbock Senior Link
Remembers Iwo Jima
by Cary Banks
Harold was soon
promoted to the rank of
corporal and transferred
to Camp Pendleton in
California to the newly
formed 4th Marine
Division to begin rigorous
training for fighting in the
Pacific Islands. Harold
had been assigned to F
Company. Shortly before
the mission was to set
sail for the invasion of
Saipan, Harold and his
company were on a
training mission on the
Hawaiian island of Maui,
when a mortar round, that fell
short of its intended target,
exploded a few feet from Harold,
sending shrapnel into his hip
and killing three of his fellow
soldiers. Harold was transported
to a military hospital unit and
spent the next three months
recovering from his wounds. He
jokes that the medical procedure
of folding skin over his wounds
gave him what is known as a
“pie crust” scar that remains with
him to this day. As a result of
his injury, however, he was not
with the company that was part
of the invasion of Saipan. Since
his wounds were not considered
“crippling”, Harold convinced
his superiors to send him back
to camp where he continued
training for what would become
one of the most significant
events in the Pacific campaign:
the Invasion of Iwo Jima. By
the time he left for the Iwo Jima
campaign, Harold had been
promoted to the rank of Gunnery
Sergeant.
He recalls in remarkable detail
February 19, 1945, when he
and 235 men in F Company,
under heavy enemy fire, landed
on the shores of Iwo Jima. He
remembers that both U.S. and
Japanese mortar fire had created
fox holes on the sands of the
beach and that the experience
was terrifying. When asked
how young men could rush
into a terrifying battle like that,
knowing they might not make
it out alive, Harold said, “These
were honorable young men, well-
trained, who simply kept moving
forward, one step at a time,
because of their loyalty to their
country and, more importantly,
their loyalty to one another.”
The soldiers moved carefully
and deliberately across beaches
littered with mine fields; they
hunkered down in fox holes,
which they never left at night
because it was quite likely they
would have been shot from either
enemy or friendly fire. March 8,
1945, was particularly significant
as F Company was under heavy
enemy attack and lost all radio
and telephone communication
with the command post. The
enemy troops were so close,
Harold‘s company could see
them crawling to various
positions. Harold’s lieutenant
commander sent him and
a wireman, under cover of
darkness, to string assault wire
from their position back to the
command post to try and restore
communication service. By early
morning, communication was
restored, and Harold and his
buddy returned to the front lines.
F company spent 26 days on
the beaches of Iwo Jima but
“it seemed like an eternity,”