TAMPA - Don Basilone was 12 years old when his older brother John went to fight in World War II.
John, 23, had enlisted in the Marines in 1940 and eventually was shipped off to fight the Japanese in the Pacific.
During the bloody battle of Guadalcanal, Gunnery Sgt. Basilone held off 3,000 Japanese troops after his 16-member unit was reduced to two.
Manning two machine guns, Basilone fired nonstop during an overnight battle, cutting down wave after wave of attacking soldiers.
Sgt. Basilone became the only enlisted Marine in World War II to receive the Medal of Honor, a Purple Heart and the Navy Cross (for the battle of Iwo Jima).
"He was a hero, and now people are learning about what he did because of the TV series ("The Pacific") on HBO," said Don Basilone, who is 80 and lives in New Port Richey.
"I was just a kid when he left," he said. "I was the youngest of 10, and I remember when my brother came home after Guadalcanal. There were 50,000 people who came to the parade in our little town."
It was the last time Don would see his brother.
John Basilone, a wisecracking former boxer and truck driver from Raritan, N.J., is one of the central characters in the 10-episode miniseries "The Pacific."
Produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, "The Pacific" intertwines the true stories of three real-life hero Marines: Robert Leckie, Eugene Sledge and Basilone. Their stories began with the series debut on March 14 recounting the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
The second episode, which debuted March 21, covered Basilone's heroism at Guadalcanal.
Actor Jon Seda, who plays Basilone, has said, "It's such a privilege and honor to have had the opportunity to portray these men. ... I only wish and hope that I had an ounce of the same courage that these guys had."
In February, Don Basilone attended a special screening in Raritan of the first episode of "The Pacific" series. He said he thought it was accurate.
"It was a terrible war, but it had to be fought," he says.
For 28 years, Raritan has held an annual John Basilone Memorial Parade.
Don Basilone, who retired to New Port Richey in 1999, says a series such as "The Pacific" is important because it shows young people the sacrifices that were made for freedom.
He said that after his brother came home for a visit in 1943, John went on a war bond tour with movie stars such as John Garfield and Virginia Grey. The beginning of his celebrated return was covered in Episode 3 of "The Pacific," which aired March 28. More about his war bond tour airs on Episode 5, debuting Sunday.
"He wanted to go back to the war," Basilone says. "Usually a Medal of Honor winner didn't have to go back, but he wanted to, and he kept bugging them."
John Basilone seemed to be uncomfortable with his celebrity status. The Marine Corps at first turned down his request to go back to the front. And he turned down the Corps' offer of a commission and an assignment as an instructor.
The Marines finally agreed he could return. While stationed at Camp Pendleton, he met Lena Mae Riggi, a sergeant in the Marine Corps Women's Reserve. They were married just before he shipped out for the Pacific.
Their whirlwind courtship and marriage will be covered in Episode 8, debuting May 2. "He only knew her a short time before they were married," says Don Basilone.
Basilone says it's going to be tough for him to watch the episode depicting the battle of Iwo Jima, where his brother died. His brother was serving as a machine-gun section leader when his unit became pinned down by enemy fire from a blockhouse.
He circled the Japanese, made his way to the top of the blockhouse and single-handedly destroyed it with grenades and demolitions. He then helped an American tank get through a minefield before being cut down by a machine gun.
Don Basilone remembers getting the news that his brother had died.
"There was no television back then, and it took longer for news to be reported," he says. "But his death was big news. I think it was harder for me and my sister to handle his death because there was so much publicity."
