Lionel Perez Salazar

Enlisted at San Antonio, TX, on 8 February 1943. Called to active duty summer 1943; boot camp at MCRD San Diego with 11th Recruit Battalion, and advanced training with Infantry Training Battalion, Camp Elliott, CA.

Joined Able Company, First Battalion, 24th Marines at Camp Pendleton on 26 August 1943.

Outfit: A/1/24th Marines
Rank: Private First Class
MOS: 745 (Rifleman)

Campaign Narrative

Outfit: A/1/24th Marines
Rank: Private First Class
MOS: 745 (Rifleman)
Important Events:
July 6, 1944 – wounded in action (mortar fragment, leg); evacuated to field hospital.
July 17, 1944 – returned to duty

Campaign Narrative

Outfit: A/1/24th Marines
Rank: Private First Class
MOS: 745 (Rifleman)
Important Events: 
July 25, 1944 – wounded in action (gunshot, right shoulder); evacuated to USS Heywood.

I heard a tank, one of ours, coming in back of us. The only thing you can see out of a tank is a slit. I thought, “He is not going to see us,” and he was right in back of us. When I got up and turned around to let him see us, I got wounded, this time a shoulder wound. I ran back and got in back of that tank. Our platoon leader happens to be there. I told him, “I’m shot!” He says, “Go that way and see if you can find a corpsman.” A corpsman bandages me up and sends me off to the beach where we had landed, and they put me on a hospital. ship there.

Campaign Narrative

On 27 July 1944, transferred to USS John Land for transport to US Naval Base Hospital #6 (Espiritu Santo). Under treatment through November 1944; returned to Camp Maui and rejoined Able Company on 24 November 1944.

My captain called me into his office and he said, “You’ve been wounded twice in two different battles. In the Marine Corps, you rate stateside duty.” I said, “I’ll see you in the states, Sir.”

Sailed from Maui aboard SS Brander Matthews 15 December 1944; arrived in San Francisco 28 December. Assigned to duty at Naval Ammunition Depot Hawthorne, NV; granted furlough to visit family. While on furlough, injured in hit-and-run automobile accident in Corpus Christi, TX; admitted to Naval Hospital. Returned to Hawthorne on 8 February 1945.

Duty at NAD Hawthorne through honorable discharge on 13 December 1945.