This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Donald Johnson (Goose), LT
to remember
Thompson, Harold Ray, EMC.
If you knew or served with this Sailor and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Contact Info
Home Town Arapaho, OK
Last Address Long Beach, CA
Date of Passing Jan 06, 1961
Location of Interment Rose Hills Memorial Park - Whittier, California
Worst Moment Harold was taken ill with appendicitus while on a patrol between Hawaii and Guam just before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The doctor on the Triton was a general practitioner and not a surgeon. He had to study up on his anatomy to do surgery when they got to Wake Island. The Triton pulled into port at Wake Island so the doctor could accompany Harold to the hospital and do the surgery. Harold was left on Wake Island to recuperate. The Triton was to return to Wake Island a few weeks later to pick him up. That never happened. Harold was assigned the duty of manning a five-inch gun along the beach on Wake Island when he was well enough to get up and get around. That duty was soon to become a reality of fact. The Battle of Wake Island began simultaneously with the Attack on Pearl Harbor and ended on December 23, 1941, with the surrender of the American forces to the Japanese. Harold's brother Vern tells a story about that five-inch gun, one provided to him by Harold before Harold's death. The Japanese bombarded the island for a few days before they tried to take the island. After one of the bombardments, Harold and the Marines that were manning that gun came out of the bunker they were in. The gun was laying on its side. One of the Marines opened the breach of the gun and lo and behold he saw a Japanese ship through the breach. He yelled for a few shells to be brought to him. They readied the gun on its side and then fired. The first shell scored a direct hit on the Japanese ship and the next two shells did the same cutting the destroyer in half. The men of Wake Island put a few of those ships out of commission. The Battle of Wake Islandt was fought on and around the atoll formed by Wake Island and its islets of Peale and Wilkes Islands by the air, land and naval forces of the Empire of Japan against those of the United States of America, with Marines playing a prominent role on both sides. The island was held by the Japanese until September 4, 1945, when the remaining Japanese garrison surrendered to a detachment of United States Marines. Harold was taken POW and eventually ended up in a Japanese homeland POW camp. See following assignment.