William Duffie Clemons, Jr. US Marine Corp. 1st Defense Battalion |
William Duffie Clemons, Jr., was a young Marine Corp. Private First Class on duty at Pearl Harbor with the 1st Defense Battalion. He fought Japanese planes with a rifle. "I grabbed my weapon, my clothes and an ammunition belt," he explained. "We broke out ammunition and set up machine guns and started firing. Those of us who just had rifles fired with them. We kept up the fire as long as the attack lasted. It looked as if each of those bombers was coming right at you felt that every bullet had your name on it, but actually their bombing was not very accurate. After the attack ceased, I reported to headquarters." "I was on my motorcycle when the second wave came. The most amazing thing wasn't what you saw, but the deafening sounds that accompany at attack. I had no conception of what an actual bombing would be like. The movies couldn't possibly give the intensity of that noise. My ears rang for a week with the sound of falling bombs and explosions. We kept expecting other attacks after the first one and kept jumping up during the night." Clemons retired from the Marine Corps as a Warrant Officer. He went to San Diego State University and earned a four-year degree in Botany. |
Information provided by William Duffie Clemons, Jr. |
