FRom AP
Mitchell Paige - AP obit
Mitchell Paige - Desert Sun obit
Nelsy Rodriguez
The Desert Sun
November 16th, 2003
World War II hero, veteran dies Saturday
Mitchell Paige won Medal of Honor for Guadalcanal
By Nelsy Rodriguez
The Desert Sun
November 16th, 2003
A Marine who distinguished himself in combat in one of the bloodiest campaigns of the Pacific during World War II has died.
Col. Mitchell Paige died Saturday in his La Quinta home. He was 85.
As a platoon sergeant, Paige was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his acts of valor during the ground battle on Guadalcanal during World War II.
The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor a member of the U.S. Armed Forces can be given for action against an enemy force.
On Oct. 26, 1942, every member of Paige’s platoon was wounded or killed fighting 2,700 Japanese soldiers.
The only Marine able to fight, Paige held opposing forces back, using several of his Marines’ machine guns until reinforcements came. He then assembled another line and led them in a bayonet charge against the Japanese.
Paige received a battlefield commission to lieutenant and later achieved the rank of colonel.
Michael Landes, president and CEO of the Annenberg Center for Health Sciences at Eisenhower Medical Center, said all Coachella Valley cities will fly flags at half staff today in honor of Paige.
Born in Charleroi, Pa. on Aug. 31, 1918, to Serbian immigrant parents Paige enlisted in the Marine Corps on his 18th birthday.
Paige continued his military career through the wars in Korea and into Vietnam.
After retiring from the Marines in 1964, Paige remained an active military speaker. As a member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, he worked as a liaison officer to the FBI to expose medal recipient imposters.
Paige’s likeness was also used for the Marine Medal of Honor GI Joe model for the Hasbro toy company classic collection, which hit toy stores in 1998.
He also invented and inflatable tent, which is used by the U.S. Army.
In 1975, he published his biography, "A Marine Named Mitch," which was recently added to the U.S. Marine Reading Program, a list of recommended reading material by the Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Michael W. Hagee.
Paige is survived by his wife, Marilyn, six children, 15 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Paige was one of several Medal of Honor recipients who lived in or had ties to the Coachella Valley. On Nov. 11, those Medal of Honor winners were recognized during a veterans’ ceremony attended by an estimated 600 people at the Walk of Honor park in Indian Wells. Paige was too ill to attend the event, which also recognized Medal of Honor winners Robert E. Bush of Indio, Lewis Millett of Idyllwild, William McGonagle of Palm Springs who died in 1999, and James Day of Cathedral City who died in 1998.
A museum at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms is named for Paige and the Naval hospital on the base is named for Bush, who also rode in the Veterans Day parade in Palm Springs.
Funeral details were not available Sunday.
Paige’s family members suggested that memorial donations could be made to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation or the World War II Museum in Eldred, Pa.
Nelsy Rodriguez is a reporter for The Desert Sun.