The Inspiring Story of George Wahlen: Medal of Honor Recipient & Hero of Iwo Jima - WWII

Welcome back everyone.  On today’s episode of Duty & Valor, you’ll hear the story of a man who wanted to support his country in wartime, even before he was old enough to do so.  A man who was given a job he never saw himself doing, but did it as well as anyone before or after.  A man who would be injured numerous times, but refused to be evacuated from the battlefield so he could continue to treat injured Marines.  This is the story of Medal of Honor recipient US Navy PhM2c George Walhen.  

George was born in Ogden, UT on August 8th, 1924 to parents Albert and Doris Wahlen.  His family was devoutly Mormon and his parents had a major influence on the man that George would become. His family raised him with a strong work ethic, and at an early age George would take on the role of a man much older in years.  At the age of 17 he was already leading five other aircraft mechanics as a crew chief in the United States Army Air Corps.  As WWII was starting, George wanted to enlist but his father didn’t agree with his decision and he refused to sign his enlistment paperwork.  But when George turned 18 he no longer needed anyones approval so he volunteered for the draft. 

George felt that his experience as an aircraft mechanic would surely mean that he would have that job in the military.  But after joining the Navy in June of 1943, he was surprised to find that he would be trained as a hospital corpsman.  He received his basic military and medical training in San Diego before being assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 26th Marines, 5th Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, CA.  

George, who was now a pharmacy mate, and the Marine unit he was attached to were sent to Hawaii for further training in Sept. 1944.  And they were there for six months before they were sent to support the US advance across the Pacific.  

On Feb. 19th they disembarked at Iwo Jima, where they were immediately thrown into combat.  The fighting on Iwo Jima was intense and they had no respite for many days.  The American forces vastly outnumbered the Japanese defending the island, but the Japanese were well dug in and determined to repel the American attack, which led to both sides suffering heavy casualties.

On Feb. 26th, George was doing what he had been doing nearly non-stop since he entered combat, treating a wounded Marine.  But this time, as he was treating a man, an enemy grenade landed in close proximity to him and he was hit in the face by shrapnel and was temporarily blinded.  Seeing how bad his injuries were, other medics attempted to get him off the front line to receive medical care, but he refused.   He knew he could still treat the wounded so he continued to do so.  He was observed racing through heavy Japanese fire, and well ahead of the frontlines, to reach an injured Marine.  After providing initial medical care, George put the injured man on his back and carried him through the enemy fire to ensure the Marine received treatment.  

As hospital corpsmen were often targets of the Japanese snipers, they had a unique risk on the battlefield.  And on this same day, the corpsman of a nearby unit fell dead to enemy fire, so George raced to treat the injured men of that unit.  He ended up treating 14 men, who wouldn’t have had medical care, before he returned to his unit.

The battle continued for weeks and he continued treating the injured, even though he hadn’t fully recovered from his own wounds.  On March 2nd, he was badly wounded, this time he was hit on his back.  He refused all attempts to evacuate him from the battlefield and was with his unit the following day when they faced deadly small arms, machine gun, and artillery fire in a 600 yard advance across open ground.  He fought through his own pain to treat the men as they fell wounded.  

During the fighting, a Marine had run back looking for corpsmen that could treat wounded Marines up ahead of George’s position as they had been hit hard.  As he was the only corpsman there, he advanced to their position and began treating the men.  As he was doing so, a mortar struck right next to him and he fell injured.  He tried to get up but fell back down to the ground as his leg had been broken by the blast.  After looking over his wounds, he wrapped his leg in a dressing and administered a shot of morphine to himself before crawling to treat the injured men nearby.  He observed five injured Marines who were badly wounded, including one who had lost both legs.  He stabilized them the best he could and remained to care for them until stretcher bearers were able to evacuate them.

At this point George came to the realization that he couldn’t do anymore and that he needed to be evacuated himself.  But after hearing another injured Marine shouting for help 50 yards ahead of him, he didn’t hesitate to help.  He faced excruciating pain and heavy enemy fire as he crawled and made his way to the Marines side.  He was able to treat the man and again stayed with him until they were both brought to a field hospital by stretcher bearers.

He was first sent to Guam and then Hawaii before arriving at Camp Pendleton to recover from his wounds.  He was there until December when he was released from the Navy.

For his actions on March 3rd, 1945, Pharmacy Mate Second Class George Wahlen was awarded the Medal of Honor.  At a ceremony with other recipients, President Truman personally bestowed the medal upon him on Oct. 5th, 1945.  President Truman jokingly said to George that “I’m sure glad a pill pusher finally made it up here.”

After the war, he met and eventually married Melba Holley, and the two would go on to have five children, 27 grandchildren, and 42 great-grandchildren.  George attended Weber State College and joined the US Army in 1948.  He held different medical roles and served during the Korean and Vietnam Wars until his retirement after 20 years in the Army at the rank of Major.  After his retirement he worked at the Veterans Administration for over a decade before retiring from that job as well.  

In addition to the Medal of Honor, George also earned two Navy Crosses, four Purple Hearts, and the Bronze Star, among many awards.

On June 5th, 2009,  Major George Wahlen died at the age of 84 and is buried at the Memorial Gardens of Wasatch.

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Links to the sources for today's show can be found in the show notes, as well as at dutyandvalor.com.  And please join us next week where we’ll tell you the story of another true American hero.