Sunday's episode of "The Pacific" — the eighth of the 10-part HBO miniseries — depicted the death of Congressional Medal of Honor recipient John Basilone during the first day of fighting on Iwo Jima. William Lansford, a Marine and Angeleno, also fought that day in Iwo Jima and recalls his friendship with the famous Marine gunnery sergeant and his last day.)
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In late 1944, after two years in the Pacific as a Marine with Carlson's Raiders, I rotated stateside and received a 30-day furlough. I was supposed to rest, visit my family and enjoy life among civilians, but none of it really worked.
Unable to adjust to the complexities of wartime civilian life, I lied to my parents, saying my leave was up, and boarded a bus for Camp Pendleton with a week left of my furlough.
In Pendleton I reported and was assigned to Company C, 27th Regiment of the newly formed 5th Division, but being early, I was told I'd find the area deserted. They were right. The new barracks stood empty, the bunks had no mattresses, the rifle racks were bare, the empty halls echoing.
Outside again, I was surprised to see a young Marine smiling at me. He wore khaki, with sergeant's stripes, and in no way resembled the muscular giant depicted in oils on a recent cover of Collier's magazine. Actually, he looked much like any other Marine, but what caught my eye was the tiny blue ribbon spangled with white stars pinned over his other ribbons. It was, unmistakably, the Congressional Medal of Honor and the smiling guy was John Basilone.
Serving with Basilone was a brief but golden period of the war for me. He never barked like the other gunnery sergeants but ruled like a wiser, older brother looking after his younger siblings, with humor and a style all his own. Under the hot California sun, with our faces stuck in the dust of Camp Pendleton, he could pick up a draggy machine gun drill with "Awright, ya goldbricks. Ya cut the time on settin' them guns up or don't expect no liberty come Friday!" And we did it because we knew he was the best machine gunner in the Corps and we wanted to be like him.
Basilone did more than train the men. He taught our recruits the meaning of esprit de corps, and in those of us who had fought, he rekindled a willingness to fight again. His simplicity, his cheerfulness, his grasp of human nature — the charm and easy grace with which he carried his honors — gave us not only confidence but pride. We were "Basilone's boys" and were envied for it throughout the division.
Our weekend hangout in L.A. was the Biltmore Hotel, where we took over an entire floor. Starting Friday evening, Basilone played and whooped it up with the rest of us until the last hours of Sunday night when we'd all crawl back to our transportation points and head for Camp Pendleton in a rush resembling a Roman chariot race, for at reveille on Monday, John expected us to toe the line, stone sober and ready for duty. We had chased girls and swilled rum and Coca-Cola all weekend, but until Friday it would be "Prepare for gun drill!," "Ready, Sarge" and "On this line, action!" with Basilone's keen eye on you making sure you didn't screw up.
Early that summer of 1944 the fun ended. Our division had been ordered to Hawaii. There we began practicing landings on "Island X." It was clear that we would soon be taking the fight to the enemy.
