Willow Creek Man Recovering From War Injuries
US Naval Hospital, San Diego Calif. -- An American tank that parked over the shellhole where he lie wounded, gave some unpleasant moments to Marine moments First Class Alton Marion Harwood, 19, of Willow Creek, Montana. He is recovering from wounds receive at Tarawa.
"The tank got hung up on a stump directly over the shellhole I was in," said Private First Class Harwood. "The exhaust flooded into the depression and nearly choked me to death.
I could hear them taling inside, but they evidently couldn't hear me pound on the bottom of the tank with my rifle. Luckily for me they moved ahead."
Private First Class Harwood became separated from his outfit after they had driven several hundred yards inland the first day of the fighting. While trying to rejoin others he was knocked into the shellhole by a slug which penetrated his right arm.
He treated the wound and tried to get out of the area but was hit by a sniper's bullet in almost the same exact spot, falling back into the shellhole. It was while mustering his strength for a third try that the Marine tank covered his shellhole.
It was seven hours before a corpsman reached him and returned him to the beach whre he was given an injection of blood plasma.
Private First Class Harwood is the son of Mr. And Mrs. Sol Miller, Willow Creek.
Note: This tank was probably China Gal since this action took place on Red Beach 1.
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copyright 2001 Wheaton, Illinois
Created 8 January 2001
