US Marine Corps Major General James Day: Medal of Honor Recipient During WWII

Welcome back everyone.  In this episode of Duty & Valor, you’ll hear the story of a man who at the age of nineteen displayed remarkable acts of courage on the battlefield.  A man who devoted over four decades of his life in service to his country.  A man whose leadership in combat was recognized during three separate wars. This is the story of Medal of Honor Recipient US Marine Corps Major General James Day.  

James Lewis Day was born on October 5th, 1925 in East St. Louis, IL to parents James and Gayle Day.  When the US entered WWII, James wasn’t old enough to enlist so he had to wait until 1943, which is when he entered military service in the Marine Corps. 

As part of the 6th Battalion, 22nd Marines, 6th Marine Division, James was sent to combat in the Pacific Theater.  They saw combat action in the Marshall Islands and Guam before reaching Okinawa in 1945.

On May 12th of that year, Corporal James Day, who was a squad leader, was ordered to lead his unit in support of Company G’s assault up a hill code named Sugar Loaf on Okinawa’s southern end.  This was one of three hills that overlooked open territory that lead to the main Japanese line at Shuri Castle.  Sugar Loaf, along with Half-Moon and Horseshoe hills, did not appear to be overly difficult objectives to overcome.  However, the 6th Marine Division would soon realize otherwise.

The Japanese set up a defense where any of the hills could be defended from either of the other two.  Half-Moon and Horseshoe were defended with multiple machine gun emplacements, while Sugar Loaf had concrete reinforced positions that were interconnected by tunnels, giving the defending Japanese regiment the ability to reinforce their men at any point of attack.     

Company G made early progress across the open field, but when they reached the slopes of Sugar Loaf, they were immediately hit by artillery and machine gun fire.  Two of the company’s three platoons were quickly pinned down.  Captain Owen Stebbin, the company’s commander, supported by 40 of his men, rallied up the hill in an attempt to silence the guns firing down on them.  About halfway up the hill, Captain Stebbin fell wounded, along with 28 other Marines.  He then gave command to Lt. Bair, who was immediately hit in his arm and badly wounded by machine gun fire.  Lt. Bair was almost unconscious but was able to be pulled back down the hill.  When he arrived at the bottom he regained his strength, grabbed a weapon and returned to his men, even though he was hit again by enemy fire.   

The Marines took the hill but were pushed back off by fierce Japanese fire.  However, the remaining Marines were able to withdraw with all of the injured men with them.  The Marines would go on to take Sugar Loaf on three separate occasions that day, and each time they were pushed back off of it. 

On one of these attacks, Corporal Day led his squad up the hill while facing heavy mortar, artillery, and machine gun fire.  He and his men were able to hold their ground, even when they faced a counterattack by Japanese soldiers, and they killed 40 of them.

The following day, Day was on a recon mission around Sugar Loaf when he was ordered to join Fox Company’s assault on the hill.  The results of this assault were similar to Company G’s.  They sustained heavy casualties and Corporal Day’s squad was down to just seven men including himself.   By that evening he, and his squad, were cut off from the other men of the assault and all they had for a defense were the seven men and a shell crater.  There they would mount an unimaginable defense against a determined enemy for three days.

During that first day alone, Corporal Day and the other six men repulsed an attack by dozens of Japanese soldiers, and later that night the attacks intensified.  They heard the Japanese assaulting other Marine positions on Sugar Loaf so they engaged the enemy, which drew some of the assaulting enemy towards their position.  Armed with small arms, grenades, bayonets, and their fists, the men faced three assaults that night, each time stopping the enemy dead in their tracks.  But their successes were met with heavy losses.  During the attacks four men had fallen wounded.  Corporal Day faced heavy fire as he crawled to each man and escorted them back to safety, one by one.  When he wasn’t selflessly saving his men, Day was observed racing from one position to another, laying down suppressing fire on the attacking enemy. 

By the next day Day’s squad was down to three men, but they fought on.  Observing two columns of enemy soldiers attacking a Marine assault, the three men opened fire on them.  They were able to break up one column but the Japanese were able to push the Marines off the Sugar Loaf yet again.

Around this time, Day knew they needed more fire power.  He ran out of the crater and ran to a Browning 1919A .30 caliber machine gun that had been dropped by other Marines.  He picked up the gun, which weighed about 30 pounds, and raced back to the crater while facing heavy enemy fire.

When he returned, he manned the machine gun and helped repel each attack on their position.  After some time, Day gave the machine gun to one of the Marines, but shortly after a Japanese mortar landed at the craters edge.  The explosion killed his fellow Marine and destroyed the gun.  At this point, the squad was left with only Corporal Day and Private First Class Dale Bertoli.

Armed with only rifles and grenades, the two men faced an enemy firing at them with rifles, machine guns, and mortars.  Facing multiple assaults throughout their second night in that crater, the two men had one tactical advantage.  The Japanese had to navigate a steep slope to get to the crater.  The two Marines were able to hear the enemy making their way towards them, which gave them time to roll grenades down on the Japanese.  This would lead to other attackers to retreat, but they were made visible by their own flares, thus allowing Day and Bertoli to shoot them as they withdrew.

Throughout the next day, the two men would engage numerous enemy patrols and repulsed every attack on their position.  As the third night approached, the Japanese intensified their attack on their position, but each time they were forced to retreat.  As they were running low on ammunition, Corporal Day had to run out of the crater and make his way towards a disabled vehicle to gather whatever ammunition he could carry back with him.  Also by this time, Day was suffering from shrapnel wounds and white phosphorus burns from the Japanese munitions.  As the injured men grew more exhausted, the fierceness of the enemy assault on their position increased.  With each subsequent attack, the men held off the enemy, many times at extremely close range, within mere feet.

The two men were able to fight on through the night and continued their fight into another day.  Day and Bertoli held their position into the following evening when they were approached by a runner who relayed the order that the two were to abandon their position.  A position that they held for days, nearly alone.  When they finally left, there were approximately 100 dead enemy littering the ground around that crater.

Corporal Day recovered from his wounds and remained in the Marine Corps as an enlisted man until he was commissioned as an officer in September 1952.  His Marine Corps service would span 43 years and would see him serve during the Korean war, where he was awarded two Silver Stars and the Vietnam war where he earned a third.  He ended up retiring as a Major General in December 1986.

What was amazing was that James Day was never officially recognized for his actions on Okinawa.  At least not until a fortuitous event took place 35 years later.  In 1980, a retired Marine was looking through his WWII memorabilia and found a carbon copy of the Medal of Honor recommendation for Corporal Day.  He passed it along to Military officials but it took almost two more decades before Day was recognized properly by his nation.

On January 20th, 1998 at a White House ceremony, Major General James Day was presented the Medal of Honor by President Clinton.

In addition to the Medal of Honor and the three Silver Stars, General Day received a bronze star, six purple hearts and two Navy Commendation Medals, among the 31 military decorations he earned over his 43 year military service.  

General James Day passed away on October 28th, 1998 at the age of 73 and he is buried at the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego, CA. 

 James Day’s military career embodied the very essence of dedication, leadership, and unwavering commitment to service.  His dedication to duty and the pursuit of excellence remind us all that with determination and steadfast resolve, we can overcome any challenge and make a lasting, positive impact on the men and women around us.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Duty & Valor.

If you want to learn more about the life of General Day, you can find all the sources used for today’s episode in our show notes and on our website, dutyandvalor.com.

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