thedrifter
01-23-06, 07:24 PM
Obituary: Neslony was injured 4 times in 1 day in WWII battle
Web Posted: 01/23/2006 12:00 AM CST
Carmina Danini
Express-News Staff Writer
Daniel John Neslony Sr., who once quipped that he was eligible for the title of "most successfully shot-at living Marine on Namur Island," died last Monday of an apparent heart attack at his son's home in Devine. He was 82.
A graveside service is scheduled for 10 a.m. today at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.
Born on a farm in Yorktown, 75 miles southeast of San Antonio, Neslony was a private when his platoon landed on Namur on Feb. 1, 1944, as part of the U.S. campaign to wrest control of the Marshall Islands from the Japanese in World War II.
Part of a group that went ashore in the first wave, Neslony didn't face fire in the first three hours, he told David Chew Stephenson, a Marine Corps combat correspondent, for a report that appeared in newspapers across the U.S.
"Then, I was hit in the shoulder, head and arm by shrapnel from an explosion," Neslony said. "The shrapnel cut my steel helmet in half and knocked me out."
Tended to by a corpsman, the young Marine was wiping blood off his face when he saw a Japanese soldier aim his rifle and fire.
"He put two bullets between my ribs — that was the toughest thing I've ever come across, just sitting there waiting for him to shoot me," Neslony said.
Neslony passed out on the beach after the corpsman gave him a shot of morphine, and when he came to, he was shot in the right leg by a sniper.
He lost consciousness a second time, and as he was waking up again, he was hit in the stomach by a piece of concrete, "knocking my breath out," he said.
The concrete came from a Japanese torpedo magazine that exploded after it was inadvertently blown up by a Marine demolition party.
The explosion killed 20 Marines and wounded 50 others, including Neslony.
Neslony, who received the Purple Heart, didn't tell Stephenson how many Japanese soldiers he killed, but he said he had "fired eight rounds of ammunition, and I believe every one of them was good."
Sent to a Navy hospital at Pearl Harbor, he was hospitalized for a year, said his daughter, Marie Neslony.
"When he developed gangrene in a leg, doctors wanted to amputate it, and they might have if it hadn't been for penicillin," she said. "That's what saved his leg."
A San Antonio resident since 1950, Neslony worked for the North East Independent School District for nearly 25 years.
Besides his daughter, he is survived by his wife, Annie B. Neslony of San Antonio; son Daniel J. Neslony Jr. of Devine; and two brothers, Bernard Neslony of Corpus Christi and Joe Neslony of Waco.
cdanini@express-news.net
Ellie
Web Posted: 01/23/2006 12:00 AM CST
Carmina Danini
Express-News Staff Writer
Daniel John Neslony Sr., who once quipped that he was eligible for the title of "most successfully shot-at living Marine on Namur Island," died last Monday of an apparent heart attack at his son's home in Devine. He was 82.
A graveside service is scheduled for 10 a.m. today at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.
Born on a farm in Yorktown, 75 miles southeast of San Antonio, Neslony was a private when his platoon landed on Namur on Feb. 1, 1944, as part of the U.S. campaign to wrest control of the Marshall Islands from the Japanese in World War II.
Part of a group that went ashore in the first wave, Neslony didn't face fire in the first three hours, he told David Chew Stephenson, a Marine Corps combat correspondent, for a report that appeared in newspapers across the U.S.
"Then, I was hit in the shoulder, head and arm by shrapnel from an explosion," Neslony said. "The shrapnel cut my steel helmet in half and knocked me out."
Tended to by a corpsman, the young Marine was wiping blood off his face when he saw a Japanese soldier aim his rifle and fire.
"He put two bullets between my ribs — that was the toughest thing I've ever come across, just sitting there waiting for him to shoot me," Neslony said.
Neslony passed out on the beach after the corpsman gave him a shot of morphine, and when he came to, he was shot in the right leg by a sniper.
He lost consciousness a second time, and as he was waking up again, he was hit in the stomach by a piece of concrete, "knocking my breath out," he said.
The concrete came from a Japanese torpedo magazine that exploded after it was inadvertently blown up by a Marine demolition party.
The explosion killed 20 Marines and wounded 50 others, including Neslony.
Neslony, who received the Purple Heart, didn't tell Stephenson how many Japanese soldiers he killed, but he said he had "fired eight rounds of ammunition, and I believe every one of them was good."
Sent to a Navy hospital at Pearl Harbor, he was hospitalized for a year, said his daughter, Marie Neslony.
"When he developed gangrene in a leg, doctors wanted to amputate it, and they might have if it hadn't been for penicillin," she said. "That's what saved his leg."
A San Antonio resident since 1950, Neslony worked for the North East Independent School District for nearly 25 years.
Besides his daughter, he is survived by his wife, Annie B. Neslony of San Antonio; son Daniel J. Neslony Jr. of Devine; and two brothers, Bernard Neslony of Corpus Christi and Joe Neslony of Waco.
cdanini@express-news.net
Ellie