Harold H. Moon Jr.

Holding a forward position against attacks on Leyte

Harold H. Moon Jr. served as an Army private in Company G, 34th Infantry, 24th Infantry Division. At Pawig, Leyte, on 21 October 1944, he defended a forward foxhole during repeated Japanese attacks. Despite wounds, he continued firing his submachine gun and encouraged nearby soldiers. He directed mortar fire against a close enemy machine gun and protected an aidman by killing attacking troops. After holding his position for four hours and helping repel a bayonet charge, Moon was killed while standing to throw a grenade. His posthumous Medal of Honor recognized his determined defense and protection of his comrades.

Medal of Honor citation

He fought with conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity when powerful Japanese counterblows were being struck in a desperate effort to annihilate a newly won beachhead. In a forward position, armed with a submachine gun, he met the brunt of a strong, well-supported night attack which quickly enveloped his platoon's flanks. Many men in nearby positions were killed or injured, and Pvt. Moon was wounded as his foxhole became the immediate object of a concentration of mortar and machine-gun fire. Nevertheless, he maintained his stand, poured deadly fire into the enemy, daringly exposed himself to hostile fire time after time to exhort and inspire what American troops were left in the immediate area. A Japanese officer, covered by machine-gun fire and hidden by an embankment, attempted to knock out his position with grenades, but Pvt. Moon, after protracted and skillful maneuvering, killed him. When the enemy advanced a light machine gun to within 20 yards of the shattered perimeter and fired with telling effects on the remnants of the platoon, he stood up to locate the gun and remained exposed, while calling back range corrections to friendly mortars which knocked out the weapon. A little later he killed two Japanese as they charged an aidman. By dawn his position, the focal point of the attack for more than four hours, was virtually surrounded. In a fanatical effort to reduce it and kill its defender, an entire platoon charged with fixed bayonets. Firing from a sitting position, Pvt. Moon calmly emptied his magazine into the advancing horde, killing 18 and repulsing the attack. In a final display of bravery, he stood up to throw a grenade at a machine gun which had opened fire on the right flank. He was hit and instantly killed, falling in the position from which he had not been driven by the fiercest enemy action. Nearly 200 dead Japanese were found within 100 yards of his foxhole. The continued tenacity, combat sagacity, and magnificent heroism with which Pvt. Moon fought on against overwhelming odds contributed in a large measure to breaking up a powerful enemy threat and did much to insure our initial successes during a most important operation.