thedrifter
09-14-07, 06:38 AM
'Beanpole' was Marine hero
Friday, September 14, 2007
By PATRICIA C. McCARTER
Times Staff Writer patricia.mccarter@htimes.com
Vet, 86, fudged on weight to fight on Okinawa in war
It took Billy Gibson two tries to get into the Marines.
The first time, the 6-foot-3-inch Blount County native was "too tall for his weight."
"I was a beanpole," he said. "But I really liked the Marine uniform. That's who I wanted to be."
The second time, a couple of years later, he ate a half-dozen bananas and drank a quart of buttermilk before he went into the recruiting office, making him gain two pounds. He bent his knees as he was measured for his height, putting him at an even 6 feet.
They signed him up on the spot.
"It was 1943," the 86-year-old man said. "They weren't being quite as picky."
So he quit his job at the cotton mill, trained on 60mm mortar equipment, and then headed out to the South Pacific. First stop, Guadalcanal, where his military career was almost over in a hurry.
He got hit in the head and shoulder by a military vehicle. His right ear was dangling by a thread, and his shoulder was broken. His superiors wanted to send him home. He begged to go fight on Okinawa, but kept being told he wasn't fit for combat.
"They finally agreed to let me go fight," he said.
And fight he did.
After his company landed on Okinawa, he was part of a battle referred to as "82 days of hell and rain."
"I don't remember being scared all of the time," said Gibson, who has lived in Huntsville much of his adult life. "But my worst scare came from a rat. It was before we made it to the front line. Me and two buddies stopped at this torn-down house where we were going to sleep.
"During the night, a rat jumped out of the attic and hit me in the chest. That's the closest I ever came to dying."
Except for the time he almost drowned in his foxhole. Or the time a mortar round exploded less than three feet away from him, killing five men all around him.
"It blew the legs off one of my buddies," he said. "It blew the arm off of another. Two guys went crazy from the sight of it. I don't know why I didn't. I just didn't.
"But for me, the greatest adventure you can ever have is to go into mortal combat and beat your enemy. That's what we did."
At least one Marine credits him with saving his life. The two men were behind a bluff, trying to sneak up on a sniper in a cave. As his buddy was moving from behind one boulder to another, he got shot in the chest.
Gibson said he caught him and called for a corpsman to come tend to him.
"I didn't see how he could live," he said. "You could see his insides. His arm was shot in two. Some of his ribs were blown out."
Gibson got him to safety and then went about getting the sniper.
Later, after the Marine had left Okinawa and was in Guam, Gibson received a letter from him, thanking him for saving his life.
"I never felt like a hero," he said. "I just did my job."
Ellie
Friday, September 14, 2007
By PATRICIA C. McCARTER
Times Staff Writer patricia.mccarter@htimes.com
Vet, 86, fudged on weight to fight on Okinawa in war
It took Billy Gibson two tries to get into the Marines.
The first time, the 6-foot-3-inch Blount County native was "too tall for his weight."
"I was a beanpole," he said. "But I really liked the Marine uniform. That's who I wanted to be."
The second time, a couple of years later, he ate a half-dozen bananas and drank a quart of buttermilk before he went into the recruiting office, making him gain two pounds. He bent his knees as he was measured for his height, putting him at an even 6 feet.
They signed him up on the spot.
"It was 1943," the 86-year-old man said. "They weren't being quite as picky."
So he quit his job at the cotton mill, trained on 60mm mortar equipment, and then headed out to the South Pacific. First stop, Guadalcanal, where his military career was almost over in a hurry.
He got hit in the head and shoulder by a military vehicle. His right ear was dangling by a thread, and his shoulder was broken. His superiors wanted to send him home. He begged to go fight on Okinawa, but kept being told he wasn't fit for combat.
"They finally agreed to let me go fight," he said.
And fight he did.
After his company landed on Okinawa, he was part of a battle referred to as "82 days of hell and rain."
"I don't remember being scared all of the time," said Gibson, who has lived in Huntsville much of his adult life. "But my worst scare came from a rat. It was before we made it to the front line. Me and two buddies stopped at this torn-down house where we were going to sleep.
"During the night, a rat jumped out of the attic and hit me in the chest. That's the closest I ever came to dying."
Except for the time he almost drowned in his foxhole. Or the time a mortar round exploded less than three feet away from him, killing five men all around him.
"It blew the legs off one of my buddies," he said. "It blew the arm off of another. Two guys went crazy from the sight of it. I don't know why I didn't. I just didn't.
"But for me, the greatest adventure you can ever have is to go into mortal combat and beat your enemy. That's what we did."
At least one Marine credits him with saving his life. The two men were behind a bluff, trying to sneak up on a sniper in a cave. As his buddy was moving from behind one boulder to another, he got shot in the chest.
Gibson said he caught him and called for a corpsman to come tend to him.
"I didn't see how he could live," he said. "You could see his insides. His arm was shot in two. Some of his ribs were blown out."
Gibson got him to safety and then went about getting the sniper.
Later, after the Marine had left Okinawa and was in Guam, Gibson received a letter from him, thanking him for saving his life.
"I never felt like a hero," he said. "I just did my job."
Ellie