Corporal George P Mitchell Jr
George Plummer Mitchell Jr was born on October 4th, 1925 in Chicago, Illinois to George Mitchell III and Florence Mitchell. The youngest in the family, George attended a local high school while also being employed at the Patt Paint and Color Company. During this time, WW2 was raging abroad, and George was nearing his 18th birthday. A mixture of eagerness to serve his country and impatience to get involved prompted him to enlist in the Marine Corps Reserve twenty six days after his birthday, and he was quickly shipped off to San Diego, California to complete boot camp. After his basic training was complete, the Marines put Private Mitchell through a month of engineer training, and two months of demolition instruction at Camp Pendleton, before he used these new skills to briefly work as an instructor.
Mopping Up
Finally, on June 9th, 1944, now Pfc Mitchell joined the 60th Replacement Draft, and fifteen days later, boarded the SS Azalea City for further assignment in the Pacific theater. This assignment turned out to be with Company G, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division on the island of Guam, which had just been officially captured less than a week before he arrived on August 16th. However, leftover Japanese soldiers gave the Marines some trouble for the next five months as they underwent training and preparations for one of the bloodiest battles of the war; Iwo Jima.
Iwo Jima
On February 9th, Pfc Mitchell and his regiment sailed from Guam aboard the USS Knox. The 9th Marines were slated as part of the reserve force for the invasion, but it was readily apparent on the first day that their services would be needed very soon. Casualties were extremely high from the get go due to new tactics by the Japanese that were meant to maximise casualties at every step of the advance. So, on February 24th, the 3rd Marine Division began to land. The next day, Pfc Mitchell and his regiment began their first action on the island by attacking the critical central position of the Motoyama Plateau. After a 20 minute bombardment of enemy positions, the 9th Marines jumped off and were immediately met with brutal casualties as they pushed across the airfield by enemy positions in the bluffs overlooking their line of attack. After 5 hours of attacking, Pfc Mitchell’s 2nd Battalion was only able to advance 100 yards, but by nightfall, had managed to capture the rising ground north of the airfield, but still needed to clear Hill Peter and 199 OBOE.
At 8:00 AM the following day, the advance resumed and was once again met with fierce enemy fire that prevented any significant gains. Finally, on the 27th, the Marines got the break they needed, and overran the both hills, during which Private Wilson D Watson, Mitchell’s squadmate, was awarded the Medal of Honor for single handedly wiping out sixty enemy soldiers which allowed his platoon to continue advancing. During this costly victory, Pfc Mitchell was badly wounded by a bullet in the upper right arm, and immediately evacuated off the island to the USS Leo. His wound proved serious enough for further evacuation to the United States. For the next seven months, Corporal Mitchell underwent treatment and rehabilitation at the US Naval Hospital in New Albany, New York, during which the Japanese surrendered, ending WW2 and his extremely short but deadly combat in the Pacific. Finally, Mitchell was discharged from the Marine Corps due to his wound on November 9th, 1945 and returned to Ohio. Unfortunately, no information about his life after the war is available, except that he passed away on March 21st, 1990 in Cuyahoga, Ohio.
Mopping Up
Finally, on June 9th, 1944, now Pfc Mitchell joined the 60th Replacement Draft, and fifteen days later, boarded the SS Azalea City for further assignment in the Pacific theater. This assignment turned out to be with Company G, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division on the island of Guam, which had just been officially captured less than a week before he arrived on August 16th. However, leftover Japanese soldiers gave the Marines some trouble for the next five months as they underwent training and preparations for one of the bloodiest battles of the war; Iwo Jima.
Iwo Jima
On February 9th, Pfc Mitchell and his regiment sailed from Guam aboard the USS Knox. The 9th Marines were slated as part of the reserve force for the invasion, but it was readily apparent on the first day that their services would be needed very soon. Casualties were extremely high from the get go due to new tactics by the Japanese that were meant to maximise casualties at every step of the advance. So, on February 24th, the 3rd Marine Division began to land. The next day, Pfc Mitchell and his regiment began their first action on the island by attacking the critical central position of the Motoyama Plateau. After a 20 minute bombardment of enemy positions, the 9th Marines jumped off and were immediately met with brutal casualties as they pushed across the airfield by enemy positions in the bluffs overlooking their line of attack. After 5 hours of attacking, Pfc Mitchell’s 2nd Battalion was only able to advance 100 yards, but by nightfall, had managed to capture the rising ground north of the airfield, but still needed to clear Hill Peter and 199 OBOE.
At 8:00 AM the following day, the advance resumed and was once again met with fierce enemy fire that prevented any significant gains. Finally, on the 27th, the Marines got the break they needed, and overran the both hills, during which Private Wilson D Watson, Mitchell’s squadmate, was awarded the Medal of Honor for single handedly wiping out sixty enemy soldiers which allowed his platoon to continue advancing. During this costly victory, Pfc Mitchell was badly wounded by a bullet in the upper right arm, and immediately evacuated off the island to the USS Leo. His wound proved serious enough for further evacuation to the United States. For the next seven months, Corporal Mitchell underwent treatment and rehabilitation at the US Naval Hospital in New Albany, New York, during which the Japanese surrendered, ending WW2 and his extremely short but deadly combat in the Pacific. Finally, Mitchell was discharged from the Marine Corps due to his wound on November 9th, 1945 and returned to Ohio. Unfortunately, no information about his life after the war is available, except that he passed away on March 21st, 1990 in Cuyahoga, Ohio.