1st Lieutenant William D. Hawkins, USMCR
1st Lt Hawkins joined the Marine Corps in January 1942, following the Pearl Harbor attack. He attended recruit training at Marine Corps Base, San Diego. and subsequently joined the 2d Marines, 2d Marine Division. He completed Scout Snipers' School at Camp Elliott, San Diego, and on 1 July 1942 embarked with his unit on board the USS Crescent City for the Pacific area.
A private first class when he went overseas, he was quickly promoted to corporal and then sergeant. On 17 November 1942, he was commissioned a second lieutenant while taking part in the Guadalcanal campaign in the battle for the Solomons. On 1 June 1943, he was promoted to first lieutenant. Less than six months later, he was killed in action leading a scout-sniper platoon in the attack on Betio Island during the assault on Tarawa.
1st Lt Hawkins Medal of Honor citation follows:
For valorous and gallant conduct above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of a Scout Sniper Platoon attached to the Assault Regiment in action against Japanese-held Tarawa in the Gilbert Island, 20 and 21 November 1943. The first to disembark from the jeep lighter, 1st Lt. Hawkins unhesitatingly moved forward under heavy enemy fire at the end of the Betio Pier, neutralizing emplacements in coverage of troops assaulting the main beach positions. Fearlessly leading his men on to join the forces fighting desperately to gain a beachhead, he repeatedly risked his life throughout the day and night to direct and lead attacks on pillboxes and installations with grenades and demolitions. At dawn on the following day, 1st Lt. Hawkins resumed the dangerous mission of clearing the limited beachhead of Japanese resistance, personally initiating an assault on a hostile position fortified by 5 enemy machineguns, and, crawling forward in the face of withering fire, boldly fired pointblank into the loopholes and completed the destruction with grenades. Refusing to withdraw after being seriously wounded in the chest during this skirmish, 1st Lt. Hawkins steadfastly carried the fight to the enemy, destroying 3 more pillboxes before he was caught in a burst of Japanese shellfire and mortally wounded. His relentless fighting spirit in the face of formidable opposition and his exceptionally daring tactics served as an inspiration to his comrades during the most crucial phase of the battle and reflect the highest credit upon the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
1st Lt Hawkins was 29 years old when he died on 21 November 1943. He is buried in the National Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.
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(Left) Tarawa–November 1943. A scout/sniper takes aim with his M1903 Springfield sniper rifle. Next to him is an M3A1 antitank gun.
still image from USMC combat camera film
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"My friend Lieutenant Hawkins of the Scout and Sniper platoon appeared. "Get down, Hawk, or you'll get shot," somebody yelled at him. The Hawk, who had come back for more ammunition, snarled, "Aw, those bastards can't shoot. They can't hit anything." Then he and the men with him leapt over the seawall again. "Hawk's platoon has been out there all day," an officer told me. "They have knocked out a hell of a lot of machine guns."
Tarawa by Robert Sherrod
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