At the height of the Battle of Okinawa, on May 14th, 1945, 19 years old Weapons Squad leader Corporal James L. Day and the men of 2nd BN, 22nd the Marines, 6th Mar Div were defending their positions when the Japanese launched a massive attack.
As the main force fell back due to heavy losses, Cpl. Day held his ground. And for 3 days, all alone, he repelled waves of enemy attacks by hurling hang grenades and blazing away with his carbine and BAR; all this despite suffering white phosphorous burns over much of his body from friendly fire and fragmentation wounds on his hands when his machine gun overheated and exploded. Some waves of enemy infantry consisted of as many as 40 men and nearly a dozen of them came to within a few feet of his foxhole.
After being knocked unconscious by an artillery shell, Cpl. Day was found surrounded by the bodies of more than 100 Japanese.
Corporal Day survived the war, and went on to serve in Korea and Vietnam until retiring as a Major General in 1986 receiving numerous awards to include 6 Purple Hearts. He was awarded the Medal of Honor on Jan 20 1998, because most of the men who witnessed his gallantry were soon killed in another battle and because over the years, papers go lost then discovered and then lost again in a mount of red tape. "There was really no good reason for me to fall back. I expected help would come at any time. It just never came, so I kept doing what I was doing." #ww2 #stayzero #zerofoxtrot #eastersunday #marines #usmc #hero