William R . Caddy Private First Class William Robert Caddy , ( August 8 , 1925 – March 3 , 1945 ) was a United States Marine who sacrificed his life to save the lives of his platoon leader and platoon sergeant during the Battle of Iwo Jima . For his bravery , he posthumous ly received his nation ' s highest military decoration — the Medal of Honor . He was the 72nd Marine of World War II to receive this honor . Caddy dropped out of high school after 2 years and worked giving most of his earnings to his mother before being drafted in the Marine Corps in 1943 . He attended training and was sent overseas to the Pacific Theatre of World War II aboard the . After the Middleton he went to Hawaii for training and then went to Iwo Jima aboard the . For the next 12 days he fought with his unit on the island until he was killed March 3 , 1945 when an enemy grenade landed near him and he sacrificed himself by smothering the blast with his body . Early years . William Robert Caddy was born on August 8 , 1925 in Quincy , Massachusetts and attended the schools of Quincy until high school . During high school he was selected to the schools varsity baseball team but he left school after his second year . He worked as a helper on a milkman ' s truck for a while and gave most of his $ 25 a week pay over to his mother . Marine Corps service . Caddy was inducted into the United States Marine Corps through the Selective Service system on October 27 , 1943 and was put on inactive duty until November 10 , 1943 when he was ordered to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island , South Carolina , for recruit training . While attending recruit training Caddy received training on several weapons in use at the time including the Reising sub - machine gun , Browning automatic rifle , M - 1 carbine , bayonet and the hand grenade . When it came time to qualify with the service rifle he fired a score of 305 with qualifying him as a sharpshooter . Following his ten - day recruit furlough , PFC Caddy reported into the Special Weapons Group , Base Artillery Battalion at Camp Lejeune , North Carolina , for instruction in the Twenty millimeter anti - aircraft gun . Upon the successful completion of the course , in which his rating was " good " , Caddy was assigned to a rifle company in the new 5th Marine Division which was then forming . His unit was Company I , 3rd Battalion , 28th Marines . After extensive training in North Carolina the new division shipped overland to San Diego where , on July 22 , 1944 , PFC Caddy headed overseas to the Pacific theatre on the . He participated in further training at Hilo , Hawaii , where the 5th Division encamped for five months . On January 5 , 1945 , rifleman Caddy boarded an attack transport , the for the island of Iwo Jima . Landing against fierce opposition , PFC Caddy went through the fighting on Iwo Jima for 12 days . On March 3 , 1945 , he , along with his platoon leader and his acting platoon sergeant , were advancing against shattering Japanese machine - gun and small arms fire in an isolated sector . Seeking temporary refuge from the assault , the three Marines dropped into a shell hole where they were immediately pinned down by a well - concealed enemy sniper . After several unsuccessful attempts to advance further , the 19 year - old Marine and his lieutenant , Ott C . Farris , engaged in a furious hand grenade battle with the defending Japanese . When an enemy grenade landed in their hole , PFC Caddy immediately covered it with his body and absorbed the deadly fragments . The Medal of Honor was presented to his mother at ceremonies on the Montclair School lawn ( which the Marine had formerly attended ) on September 8 , 1946 by Rear Admiral Morton L . Deyo , Commandant of the First Naval District . Among those present were the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts , the Mayor of Quincy , and the United States Congressman from that district . Private First Class Caddy was initially buried in the 5th Marine Division Cemetery on Iwo Jima and was later reinterred in the U . S . National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu , Hawaii , in 1948 . His grave can be found in Section C , Grave 81 Medal of Honor citation . The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR posthumously to PRIVATE FIRST CLASS WILLIAM R . CADDY UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS RESERVE for service as set forth in the following CITATION : / S / HARRY S TRUMAN Posthumous honors . The Marine Corps League ' s detachment # 124 , the " William R . Caddy " Detachment ( Quincy , Massachusetts ) , was named in honor of the Marine Corps ' Medal of Honor recipient in 1946 . In October 1963 , Treasure Island Park in Quincy was renamed " P . F . C . William R . Caddy Memorial Park . "