Wilson D. Watson - Biography

Biography

Wilson "Doug" Watson was born on February 18, 1922, to Charles Watson and Ada Posey Watson, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. One of twelve kids; eight brothers, three sisters. Before his enlistment in Little Rock, Arkansas, on August 6, 1942, he worked on his father's farm and completed seven years of grade school. Watson received his basic training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, California, and was deployed overseas on January 24, 1943.

Serving as an automatic rifleman with Company G, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division during the bitter fighting on Iwo Jima, Watson earned the Medal of Honor for heroism during February 26–27, 1945, when he single-handedly killed more than 90 Japanese and enabled his pinned-down platoon to continue the advance. In the attack, he was shot seven times and was hit in the shoulder by mortar fragments. He was evacuated from Iwo Jima after he suffered a gunshot wound in the neck on March 2, 1945. He previously saw action at Bougainville, Guadalcanal, and Guam.

Private Watson was presented the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman on October 5, 1945 at the White House.

Following his discharge from the Marine Corps, he enlisted in the United States Army Air Force, and then the United States Army as a private, working as a mess hall cook. He eventually reached the rank of Staff Sergeant and finally retired from the military in 1966.

He was married to wife Patricia, whom he had two children with. Ricky (b. 1953) and Darlene (b. 1962).

Wilson "Doug" Watson died on December 19, 1994 in Russellville, Arkansas.