Oldest Marine Recruit In RD Parris Island's History
by U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Shane Manson February
15,
2022
The average age of a United States Marine
Corps recruit is 21 years old. When Paul Douglas enlisted in 1942,
he left behind his wife, child, and career and reported to Marine
Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island at the ripe age of 50.
Even
though thousands of visitors have walked the halls of the Douglas
Visitor Center, very few know the story of the man behind the
namesake, who became the oldest recruit in the history of Parris
Island.
Born in 1892, Douglas embarked on a career as an
economics professor, teaching at multiple universities across
America from 1916-1942. In 1939 Douglas ran for Chicago City Council
and won.
By 1942, Douglas had made many acquaintances in
high places; namely Frank Knox, an associate he befriended during
his tenure at the Chicago Daily News who later became Secretary of
the Navy. With a little help from Knox, Douglas enlisted in the
United States Marine Corps as a private, five months after the
attacks on Pearl Harbor, as the country was plunged into a second
world war. Douglas had wanted to see combat and fight for his
country, so with his connections in the naval service the Marine
Corps became the most logical choice.
Now the 50-year-old
famed economist, professor and politician found himself at the
command of drill instructors whom he was old enough to have
fathered. After completing boot camp, Douglas proudly wrote “I found
myself able to take the strenuous boot camp training without asking
for a moment's time out and without visiting the sick bay.”
After impressing his command during boot camp, Douglas was assigned
to the personnel classification section on Parris Island. With
influence from his connections in the Roosevelt administration,
three weeks later he passed a test to be promoted to corporal, and
one month after that, staff sergeant. Following a recommendation
from his commanding officer (and a strong recommendation from his
old friend Frank Knox,) Douglas was commissioned as a captain in the
Marine Corps, after seven months as an enlisted Marine.
During the battle of Peleliu, while serving as the division adjutant
to 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, Captain Douglas made trips to the
front lines to evacuate the wounded and dead men. During one of
these trips Douglas saw that the men were in desperate need of
flamethrower and rocket launcher ammo. He swiftly returned to the
rear and hand-delivered the men the ammo under heavy mortar and
small arms fire. For these heroic actions, Douglas would be awarded
the Bronze Star medal. Later into the campaign at Peleliu, Douglas
came under fire and was hit by a piece of shrapnel, for which he
received his first Purple Heart medal.
Douglas went on to
serve in the battle of Okinawa, often being remembered by Marines
for running around the battlefield with the vigor of a much younger
Marine. He was promoted to major during the battle of Okinawa. Pfc.
Paul E. Ison stated that it was after the major had pulled his
demolition team aside to assist in resupplying ammo to the front
lines that he noticed Douglas had been injured.
Douglas had
been hit by a machine gun in his left forearm and was evacuated by
the men that he had dedicated his life to serving. After being hit,
he proceeded to use his uninjured hand to take off his major rank
insignia so that he wouldn’t receive special attention. Ison
said, “If I live to be 100 years old I will never forget this scene.
There, lying on the ground, bleeding from his wound was a
white-haired Marine major. He had been hit by a machine gun bullet.
Although he was in pain, he was calm and I have never seen such
dignity in a man. He was saying ‘Leave me here. Get the young men
out first. I have lived my life. Please let them live theirs.”
Douglas expressed passionate interest in returning early to his
men to continue serving on the front lines. He was hospitalized in
San Francisco and subsequently moved to Bethesda, Maryland where it
took more than 14 months to be dismissed from the hospital and was
medically retired from the Marine Corps, only regaining partial use
of his left hand.
Noting his unusual bravery, an officer who
served under Douglas said “No one could keep the major out of the
front lines. He loves his boys and was right in there with them all
the time.”
In his command it had been a normal sight to see
Douglas waiting in the back of the chow hall line while fellow
officers skipped to the front of the line, picking up garbage so
that young Marines wouldn’t have to, and anything else he could do
to assist the men under him. All accounts of men who served with him
said that he was greatly admired by his Marines.
Commenting
on the importance of honoring Douglas and his actions through
dedicating a building to him, Dr. Stephen Wise, the director of the
Parris Island History Museum stated “It’s important to remember
Marines who made an impact and influenced the Marine Corps in a
positive direction. Douglas was the oldest individual to go through
Parris Island, he could have stayed safely on ship and he chose not
to; we want people to remember these men and their actions.”
Because of his brave actions under fire and unselfish service he was
promoted to lieutenant colonel a year after he retired in January of
1947. After returning to Chicago as a war hero, Douglas won his spot
as Illinois state senator in 1949. When running for senator the
opposing candidate refused to debate him, so Douglas sat down and
debated an empty chair, switching chairs and answering for his
opponent. He was noted for his support of Dr. Martin Luther King's
civil rights movement and advocating for just treatment of
Americans. He served in that position for 18 years until retiring at
74 years of age.
In 1977, Parris Island visitor’s center was
named in Douglas’s honor. His wife, Emily Douglas spoke to the
tribute Parris Island had bestowed upon her late husband.
“Later in his life many honors came to my husband. But there is none
that would have so touched him, made him so astonished as well as
thrilled, as having his name associated here at Parris Island.”
Even in public office Douglas continued to advocate for the
Marine Corps, and proudly kept the Marine Corps standard displayed
in office.
“All of us have standards by which we measure
other men. Paul Douglas is one of the finest, bravest and truest men
that I have known during my lifetime. It was an honor to have been
associated with him, to have shared danger with him and to have
observed his nobility of character when he was wounded and asked to
be left behind so that younger men might live.” PFC. Paul E. Ison
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