The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1944-08-08
PVT JOHN DOE OF MT. CLEMENS


A. we saw him. standing at ease the sidewalk
toIk;no 70 a friend there was nothing TO identity him
ns veteron Of some of the most savage engagements
The United Stotes Marine Corps has experienced IN
the South Poeifie. Not single eomPoi9n ribbon -
Il. .lone bottle stor - adorned his breost There
was absolutely nothing to signify thot q japanese
bullet has creased his we'll set young heod his uni
form cop covered the seor; and the Purple Heort
ribbon 70 which he was entitled nowhere to be
seen.
So far as we know Pvt. John Doe tfor he has
rodestIy requested thot not identity him. never
won a eitotion. He would probably, lead for your
chin if YOU suggested thot he wos hero. he was
just good marine.
The stroaht forword cool glance that chung un-
woxerineIy to your eyes he spoke. however, mir
rored far places and in their studied oposueness re-
Elected the things this l9yeoroId had seen ond had
done. during the 80 months he had lived with deoh
at his elbow.
Somehow, as you looked into his eyes, you could
imosine him, stripped to the woist steel helmet
shsothns his heed, while rivuIets OF PersPirot'on
trekled down his bronzed torso. It was cosy to i'm
ooins him as he had erowIed tortuousy through the
.teomna hell Of GuadoIeonoI, Of Cope Gloucester
and Of New Guinea. He wos there.
You didn't talk to the boy long The first thing
the newspaper, aren't your"
Somehow il seemed slightly like oeeusotion
Then you understood what he meant.
"PIeose," the old young fellow said, "don't put
anything in the poper about me- just wont to relax
for few doys won't to forget don't want folks
oskina Where and What ond How. Just
want to take it cosy before report beck"
And, while we think him all too modest. we
l. rL-A~ ..k,,
we coll him PVT. Doe"
Pvt Doe doesn't come from prominent fomiIy.
His dad is an honest, Woodworking factory man. But
the boy knew he had job TO do and he did it.
He did it during those early, dark days in the
teen,ns iunsIes Of the Solomon isonds; and he did
Il later on in equally dangerous places.
Sure he was scored. Who wouldn't hove been?
His fother, to whom he had imported few. seont de-
tails Of his experience, sold:
"Somehow he seems changed. He told me once
bod, there wos nony time my fingers streomed
blood from the frenzy with which sought TO scoop
out enough dirt to form shelter for my body. You
don't woste time on thot job. You just dig, and dig
fost and hope you con moke fox hole thot will give
you at least some protection from the bozins hell
oil around you; ond then you forward few yards
- and dig another hole"
To this writer, who asked "How does the stuo-
tion look to you out there?" the young Mount Glenn
ems Morne sold simply:
They 1.-THE Jops) going TO have to be dug out
one by one"
Yes, the Jops ore going to be dug out one by one
And, so long there American boys like Pvt
John Doe who run forward and dig another hole"
the outcome eonnot remain in doubt.
Somehow. otter you tok to the John Does. back
from the front, you feel more thon little humble,
more thon Bit proud; ond guilty. owore thot you
hsvsn't bought quite oil the war bonds that you
should have, that you hoven't donated os much
blood your heoIth will stond; ond - above all
else you feel grateful that the Pvt. John Does Of
This notion retain cool, calm, heroic foth in their
essntr's eouss and in you who may - or may not
~ deserve their sacrifices.
The least thot you and con do is to try harder.
pvs Dee end his millions Of eomrodes in
ooln ~gssniss foword" = and there is still long,
~ Wy = %.