William George Harrell

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Full Name: William George Harrell
Location: No Plot Assigned
Reason for Eligibility: Medal of Honor Recipient 
Birth Date: June 26, 1922 
Died: August 9, 1964 
Buried:  
 

WILLIAM GEORGE HARRELL (1922 ~ 1964). Medal of Honor Recipient William Harrell was born on June 26, 1922, in Rio Grande City, Texas. He attended the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (Texas A&M University) for two years. He left school to join the Air Force, but was refused entry because he was colorblind.

Harrell joined the Marine Corps and was assigned to the First Marine Battalion of the 28th Marines, Fifth Division, where he rose to the rank of Sergeant by the time his unit was sent to Iwo Jima in 1945. Along with another Marine, Harrell was holding a position near the company command post on March 3, 1945, when the enemy infiltrated American lines before dawn.

Harrell killed two advancing enemy soldiers with his rifle before an exploding grenade severed his left hand from his arm and fractured his thigh. He was then attacked by an enemy soldier wielding a sword who stabbed Harrell before he was able to kill him. Two more enemy soldiers advanced and a grenade landed by Harrell's head. Harrell shot one with his pistol; then seized the live grenade and thrust it towards the other Japanese soldier, who died in the explosion. The explosion also took Harrell's right hand. It was for his actions on March 3, 1945 that Harrell was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, which was presented to him by President Truman at the White House on October 5, 1945.

After rehabilitation at a military hospital, Harrell was discharged in February 1946, and returned home to Mercedes, Texas. In 1949, he moved to San Antonio to work for the Veterans Administration, where he eventually became chief of the prosthetics division.

Harrell and his wife Olive had four children. Harrell took his own life on August 9, 1964, after participating in a double murder in which he killed close friends Ed and Geraldine Zumwalt; the cause of which is still unknown. Harrell is buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas.

Bibliography: "Above and Beyond: The Medal of Honor in Texas," Capitol Visitors Center, State Preservation Board of Texas. Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association, University of Texas, http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/HH/fhadx.html, September 26, 2005. San Antonio Express: August 10, 1964, pg. 1A, 12A; August 11, 1964, pg. 4D.

 

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