title: Oral History Interview with George Haggerty, March 25, 2004
creator: Haggerty, George L.
contributor: Misenhimer, Richard
contributor: Dial, Lesle
publisher: National Museum of the Pacific War
date: 2004-03-25
language: English
description: The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview
 with George Haggerty. Haggerty was employed as a civilian contractor with the
 US Army when WWII started. When his contract expired, he enlisted in the
 Marine Corps in December 1942. By June, 1943, Haggerty had been through basic
 training at Parris Island and was commissioned a second lieutenant after
 officer candidate school at Quantico. When Haggerty went overseas, he boarded
 the SS Extavia (1941) for a trip through the Panama Canal to New Caledonia. He
 was in charge of training a navy construction battalion at Noumea before he
 was assigned to the First Marine Division and left to join them at Pavuvu.
 When he arrived on Pavuvu, Chesty Puller assigned him to the 1st Regiment.
 There they trained for the Peleliu invasion. At Peleliu, Haggerty served as a
 platoon leader. He recalls the fighting on the day he landed and the Japanese
 counterattack with tanks and infantry near the airfield. Haggerty was wounded
 by a shell fragment and evacuated to a transport ship serving as a hospital.
 He recovered and returned to Peleliu the next day. After reducing a Japanese
 position, Haggerty was again wounded and evacuated. This time, he was shipped
 to a hospital on Guadalcanal for treatment. Once he recovered, he rejoined his
 unit on Pavuvu, where they trained for the Okinawa campaign. Haggerty landed
 on Okinawa with the First Marine Division. He recalls several instances of
 casualties resulting from friendly fire on Okinawa. Again, Haggerty was
 wounded by shell fragments and evacuated to Guam. He had spent six weeks on
 Okinawa. When the war ended, he was home on leave in New York. He remained in
 the Corps and retired in 1966.
subject: World War, 1939-1945
subject: People - Individuals
subject: Military and War - Wars - World War II
subject: Interviews
subject: Oral histories
subject: Personal narratives
subject: Autobiographies
subject: Biographies
subject: WWII
subject: United States. Marine Corps
subject: Military training
subject: SS Extavia (1941)
subject: Peleliu, Battle of, Palau, 1944
subject: World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Palau -- Peleliu Island
subject: Combat
subject: World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Japan -- Okinawa Island
subject: Friendly fire (Military science)
rights: Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives
rights: Commercial use is prohibited without permission from the National Museum
 of the Pacific War.
type: Text
format: 61 p.
format: Text
identifier: local-cont-no: OH01139
identifier: https://texashistory.unt.edu./ark:/67531/metapth1604537/
identifier: ark: ark:/67531/metapth1604537