NJ MOH Recipient, John Basilone, story to be part of HBO series

The heroics of Marine Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone of Raritan, the only enlisted Marine in World War II to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor, the Navy Cross and the Purple Heart, will be part of a sprawling HBO miniseries from executive producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. The Somerset County legend, honored each year with a parade through the borough, helped hold off thousands of Japanese troops at Guadalcanal as all but two other members of his small unit were killed. "'Manila John" Basilone, who served in the Army in the Philippines before enlisting the Marines, later fought and died at the Battle of Iwo Jima.

"The Pacific," considered a companion piece to HBO's award-winning "'Band of Brothers," set in Europe during World War II, will follow the Pacific theater exploits of Basilone and fellow Marines Robert Leckie and Eugene Sledge. Filming will begin late this summer in Australia, an HBO spokeswoman says, but no casting has been announced. An air date for the miniseries has not been set.

As a Rutgers Alum and Joisey guy I now Manila John's Story. After receiving the Medal of Honor he returned stateside to join the War Bond Tours. Although exempt from further combat tours, since he was one of those rare MOH winners who survived, he sought to return to the War and join his fellows. He survived the Iwo landing and rallied his squad. The fighting was intense and as he led his squad forward he disappeared in a cloud of dust from an artillery shell hit. There was nothing left to bury.

I remember participating in a Rutgers Sport Car night time race where time and distance were important. as we navigated over the rural roads around Rutgers one of the navigation instructions was "from Stop Sign travel 1.7 miles to Manila John and turn left 90 degrees and ...."

When we got to the Raritan town square there stood this bronze statue of Manial John. We stopped, read the inscription and came in next to last for that leg because we were curious about Manila John. The next day I visited the library and read about this All American Hero!!!

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