"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above
and beyond the call of duty as Leader of an Assault Group, serving with
the First Battalion, Twenty-Eight Marines, Fifth Marine Division, during
hand- to-hand combat with enemy Japanese at Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands,
on March 3, 1945. Standing watch alternately with another Marine in a
terrain studded with caves and ravines, Sergeant Harrell was holding a
position in a perimeter defense around the company command post when
Japanese troops infiltrated our lines in the early hours of dawn.
Awakened by a sudden attack, he quickly opened fire with his carbine
and killed two of the enemy as they emerged from a ravine in the light
of a star-shell burst. Unmindful of his danger as hostile grenades
fell closer, he waged a fierce lone battle until an exploding missile
tore off his left hand and fractured his thigh; he was attempting to
reload the carbine when his companion returned from the command post
with another weapon. Wounded again by a Japanese who rushed the foxhole
wielding a saber in the darkness, Sergeant Harrell succeeded in drawing
his pistol and killing his opponent and then ordered his wounded
companion to a place of safety. Exhausted by profuse bleeding but still
unbeaten, he fearlessly met the challenge of two more enemy troops who
charged his position and placed a grenade near his head. Killing one man
with his pistol, he grasped the sputtering grenade with his good right
hand and, pushing it painfully toward the crouching soldier, saw his
remaining assailant destroyed but his own hand severed in the explosion.
At dawn Sergeant Harrell was evacuated from a position hedged by the
bodies of twelve dead Japanese, at least five of whom he had personally
destroyed in his self-sacrificing defense of the command post. His grim
fortitude exceptional valor and indomitable fighting spirit against
almost insurmountable odds reflect the highest credit upon himself and
enhance the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service."
From Sgt. Harrell's Medal of Honor citation, awarded on October 5, 1945.
May you be at peace,
Brian & Melonie
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