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by Ronald Russell
(The following originally appeared in Veterans
Biographies, distributed during the annual Battle of Midway commemoration
in San Francisco, June 2006)
Don McDougal grew up in Hollywood during the
Depression years, a time when nearly every household in American had to get by
on very little. In order to bring in a
little extra money, his mother rented out a spare room to the wife of a Marine
who was deployed overseas. Young Don
was easily influenced by the impressive Marine when he came home on leave, and
quickly decided that his future was in the Corps. He joined the reserve on his 17th birthday and was called up for
active duty in July 1941.
He was posted to Company G., 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine
Regiment and readied for combat in the Pacific. His destiny changed dramatically, though, when a portion of the regiment
was picked for duty with the new Marine defense battalions (MDB). McDougal was one of only a few from Company
G who were randomly selected. His new
command was the 22nd Provisional Infantry Company, slated to augment the 6th
MDB on Midway. As it eventually turned
out, Co. G of the 2/2 Marines was nearly wiped out in the brutal invasion of
Tarawa.
McDougal arrived on Midway in January 1942, and spent the
next five months working vigorously to build up the atoll’s defenses,
occasionally pausing to dodge shelling from Japanese submarines. He was also an accomplished singer, and
performed before the showing of evening movies and during the chaplain’s Sunday
services.
During the enemy air raid that opened the Battle of
Midway on 4 June 1942, McDougal was in his foxhole on Sand Island, facing the
southern beach. He and his comrades
were to deny the beach to Japanese seaborne infantry, who were expected to come
ashore after a naval bombardment. If
the reef, mines, and barbed wire didn’t stop them, McDougal knew the fight
would get very personal. He was very
glad that that it didn’t come to that, thanks to the U.S. triumph in the
air-sea battle. As for his contribution
to the victory, he likes to say that he “was a mere pawn on the mighty
chessboard of the Battle of Midway, but when the game is over, both
the king and the pawn go back into the same box!”
McDougal was subsequently posted to
the 1st MDB on Palmyra Atoll, then stateside for bomb disposal training and
finally a lengthy tour with the garrison in the Canal Zone. He left the Corps at the end of his
enlistment in November 1945 to begin a civilian career at first with the
performing arts in Hollywood, then later in construction and real estate development.
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