*Private Harold H. Moon, Jr.
Albuquerque, New Mexico
G. Company, 34th Infantry Regiment
near Leyte
In a
forward position, armed with a sub machine gun, Private Moon met the
brunt of a strong, well-supported night attack on his platoon’s
flanks. Although wounded, he maintained his stand pouring deadly
fire into the enemy, daringly exposing himself to hostile fire.
Private Moon killed a Japanese Officer who was attempting to knock
out his position with grenades. When the enemy advanced a machine
gun within 20 yards of the shattered perimeter, Moon stood up
exposing himself to locate the gun. He remained exposed correcting
mortar fire which knocked out the enemy weapon. Later he killed two
Japanese soldiers as they charged an aid man. His position became
the focal point of the attack for over four hours and was virtually
surrounded. An entire Japanese platoon attacked the position with
fixed bayonets. From a sitting position, Private Moon emptied his
magazine on the advancing enemy, killing 18 and repulsing the
attack. In a final display of bravery, he stood up to throw a
grenade at a machine gun when he was hit and instantly killed. In
the aftermath, nearly 200 dead Japanese were found within 100 yards
from his foxhole. His heroism broke up a powerful threat and
contributed to our initial successes in the battle for Leyte.
Link: Harold H. Moon, Jr. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Newman, Aubrey S., UNFORGETTABLE IS THE WORD FOR HIM