Purple Heart 1st Bn, 22d Marines, 6th Marine Division, Co.'s C and D

[American Heritage]

It is an honor to share this ID'd uniform of a genuine American hero with my fellow collectors. The uniform was located at a yard sale near Piedmont West Virginia with the original belt and original ribbon bar, original shoulder and rank patches still sewn on, and original EGAs still attached! The jacket is in rough condition but shows legitimate wear and age and is marked with the veteran's name and initials.

 

Thanks to the help of forum member Robin (AKA "Jack's Son) I was able to obtain his service number from a casualty card and subsequently requested his records from the NPRC. I always view these service records with a mix of emotions. On one hand it is so interesting and nostalgic to study this history but the pain and tragedy is omnipresent and overpowering at times. Only those viewing war from a safe distance through time can see this history through rose-colored glasses. But I am always reminded of the sacrifice that was made by so many in the 1940's.

 

PFC William Lee Dunlap USMC of Piedmont West Virginia was a football and basketball star in high school and joined the Corps on July 21, 1942. He qualified with most of the Corps' weaponry including the BAR (M-1918A2), the Thompson submachine gun, the .30 cal M1903, and the M1911 .45 pistol and was designated a Heavy Machine Gun Crewman and Machine Gun NCO. He saw action in the Pacific with Companies C and D of the 1st Battalion, 22d Marine Regiment of the 6th Marine Division, being wounded in action on May 10 1945 - a gunshot wound to the right shoulder in the initial landings on Okinawa.

 

His service record is extensive and records his voyages en route to Okinawa with an equator crossing on April 10th 1944, although another entry lists the crossing on May 18, 1943. His first recorded debarkation was on Guadalcanal, Bristish Solomon Islands in June 1944, followed by a stop at Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands in the same month and then on to service at Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands from 18 Feb. to 2 March 1944 for which a Bronze Star on the Asiatic Pacific Ribbon was awarded, then on to Guam, Marianas Islands from 21 July to 10 August 1944 for which another Bronze Star was authorized on the Asia-Pac ribbon and where his unit was authorized the Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon. He returned to San Francisco, CA via Pearl Harbor Hawaii on June 19, 1945 thus completing his hard service in the Pacific.

 

The Commendation for the 22d Marines included in the file details the attack against Eniwetok with the 3d BN of the 22d Marine Rgt, reinforced with 2d Separate Tank Company as Reserve for the Army's 106th Infantry landing and capturing Engebi Island in 6 hours, killing over 1,000 enemy troops. It then describes a night attack on 19 Feb against Parry Island by a Reinforced 22d Marine Regt. Parry Island was the last Japanese stronghold and also the HQ of the Japanese Imperial Army in the Eniwetok Atoll, defended by 1,100 enemy troops. Despite combat fatigue from the previous ops, the Marines of the 22d Regt. drove a wedge into the Japanese defenses and forced them underground to the maze-like spider-web emplacements, routing the enemy in 10.5 hours in combat described as "savage, bitter, and unrelenting."

[American Heritage]

 

One tough battle-hardened West Virginian Marine here!

 

 

His entry at the WW2 Memorial:

 

http://www.wwiimemorial.com/registry/searc...7&tcount=29

 

William Lee Dunlap

 

 

BRANCH OF SERVICE

U.S. Marine Corps

 

 

HOMETOWN

Piedmont, WV

 

HONORED BY

Carol Dunlap Scruggs, Daughter

 

ACTIVITY DURING WWII

SERVED FROM 1942 TO 1945 WITH THE 6TH MARINE DIVISION IN THE PACIFIC THEATER OF OPERATIONS, INCLUDING HAWAII, AMERICAN SAMOA, KWAJALEIN ATOLL, MARSHALL ISLANDS, GUADALCANAL, GUAM, ULITHI ATOLL AND OKINAWA, WHERE HE WAS WOUNDED IN THE LAST GREAT BATTLE OF WWII.

[American Heritage]

Original Ribbon Bar!

[American Heritage]

.

[American Heritage]

.

[American Heritage]

Dunlap's Name and initials marked over another name inside the shoulder:

[American Heritage]

.

[American Heritage]

.

[American Heritage]

.

[combat-helmets]

fantastic research! I have a soft spot for 6th Division items too.

Well done! :thumbsup:

[etienne]

That's really great ... a nice tribute to this man :thumbsup:

[Kurt Barickman]

Nice group, thanks for sharing. Love the ribbon bar!

 

Kurt

[American Heritage]

thanks guys for your comments!

[p2tharizo]

You hit the nail on the head about it being difficult to read those records. I just finished up reading the first ones I've requested and it was a bit rough. It's hard, no actually impossible to imagine the things these guys went through. That uniform is something to be proud of, as I can tell you are. Thank you for sharing it.

[American Heritage]

revisting this uniform today...where are men like this today? I am more than humbled by this Marine's gallant service.

[Brian Keith]

That is a great uniform, from a guy who probably would say he was just doing what was needed to be done. There are the same kind of men out there. On my last day on my FOB in Afghanistan (Easter Sunday, 2013) I saw a squad of them, infantry, loaded to the max with 60mm mortars on down, waiting for their chopper to do a night mission, these young men mostly were in grade school when 9-11 happened, they grew up, put on the uniform and got into the fight. Just what their country asked them to do. I suspect some of their uniforms will end up in a yard sale, I hope some one is there to preserve it.

Thanks for saving this one.

BKW

[American Heritage]

Brian, thanks for commenting on my thread...and for making me feel better today!

[cvdunlap]

Hello. I just wanted to let you know that I am William Dunlap's daughter, the youngest of his three. My father died in 1994 at age 72. After the Marines he went to West Virginia University and got a B.S. in business. He settled in Washington, DC, and met my mother in 1950. He had a long career with the federal government at the Department of Defense, and lived in Falls Church, Va.

 

This uniform and accessories, I believe, were in my aunt's house in Keyser, W.Va., not far from their family's hometown of Piedmont. After she died we went to the house and, supervised by the bank who settled her estate, were allowed to take some mementos. The uniform etc. was probably in the basement which was, for many reasons, too unsafe to navigate, so these things must have been purged at some point before the house was sold. His two half-brothers also served in the military during WWII.

 

I am glad that these things found a home with someone who obviously respects their purpose and has done such a good write up on their origin.

 

My father really suffered the effects of the intense battle he was in, and at times was quite honest about it. I can remember sitting up late with him one night and he talked about how tiny pieces of shrapnel would still, occasionally, come to the surface of his skin, and how irritating and itchy there were. He didn't glorify his experience, but he wasn't a stereotype of stoicism either. He did have deep nostalgia for those who served with him. For years he was the membership coordinator for the Sixth Marine Division, which still meets annually. Also, my father admired his CO, the well known Cord Meyer, who became a high ranking CIA official and author.

 

I feel fortunate to have had him as a father. He was very protective of his family. We could hardly run to the grocery store without getting the oil and tires checked before we backed out of the driveway. He dearly loved his grandchildren. After getting married and having my first child and coming home for a visit, I'd fine him up with the birds, at dawn's first light, making pancakes with my then 3-year-old son.

 

My younger son, now 17, was born several years after my father died, but just a couple of weeks ago I heard him telling my mother how handy it was to find Grandpa Bill's camo jacket down in her basement so that he could wear it while working in a corner of her yard that might've had poison ivy.

 

My older son looks strikingly like his grandfather.

 

Best regards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[American Heritage]

Thanks so much for commenting on your Dad and his personality. Did you register him on the ww2 memorial site? It would be great if you could add some photos of him, maybe even some in his uniform? If you want a copy of his service records, I can send them to you if you PM me your mailing address. Thanks again. Semper Fi Mr. Dunlap.

[belleau_woodsman]

My uncle was Golf 2/22. Love any 6th uniforms!!!

[cvdunlap]

Thank you. I am having trouble navigating this site. I think we have my father's records -- there might have been some duplicates. Yes, I did put up something on the WWII memorial site -- if we are talking about the same site. I will see if I can find photos of him in uniform. Thanks again for your great presentation. Also, just thought of this. He was interviewed, along with others, I think, by UPI in the early '90s about his WWII experience. I'll see if I can't scan that and add it.

[vernonshattuck]

Outstanding. Thank you for posting your grouping.