Tips before hitting the duck blinds

Wilson Douglas “ Doug” Watson — A Crittenden County Hero

Crittenden County Museum The Medal of Honor is the highest military honor a member of the United States Armed Forces can receive. It is awarded by the President of the United States in the name of the U.S. Congress for heroic acts above and beyond the call of duty. The first Medal of Honor was awarded during the Civil War in 1863 and in the 153 years since then only 3,515 were received, that is less than 23 annually on average, making it the rarest honor in the U.S. military. In comparison, the Silver Star, that is awarded for valor in combat since 1932, has been received by an estimated 150,000 soldiers in 84 years, averaging close to 1,800 per year. In World War II (1939-1945) only 471 Medals of Honor were awarded, one of them to a brave man in Crittenden County: Wilson Douglas “Doug” Watson of Earle, Arkansas.

Born in Tuscumbia, Alabama in 1922, Watson moved to Crittenden County in his young years with his parents, five brothers and two sisters to live on a farm one mile northwest of Earle. They were a family of sharecroppers, Watson had completed seven years of grade school and grew up to be a farmer; the blue-eyed young man also was an avid hunter and known among locals as a shy and humble person.

In August 1942 Watson enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in Little Rock, Arkansas and received his basic military training at the Recruit Depot in San Diego, California. On January 24, 1943 he was deployed overseas and served as an automatic rifleman in the 3rd Marine Division in the rank of Private, he was 24 years old at that time. His company was involved in the Battle of Iwo Jima, an island in the Pacific Ocean that was eventually captured by U.S. Marines from the Imperial Japanese Army to provide a base for attacks of the Japanese main islands. The battle lasted five weeks and was one of the bloodiest encounters during the War in the Pacific of World War II.

During Feb. 26 and 27, 1943 Watson's platoon came under intense fire from Japanese fortifications in the high rocky terrain, effectively preventing the advance of his squad. In a Navy Department press release dated Oct. 3, 1945 Watson was credited for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty […]. Private Watson boldly rushed one pillbox (a small bunker) and fired into the embrasure with his weapon, keeping the enemy pinned down single-handedly until he was in a position to hurl in a grenade and then running to the rear of the emplacement to destroy the retreating Japanese and enable his platoon to take its objective. Again pinned down at the foot of a small hill, he dauntlessly scaled the jagged incline under fierce mortar and machine-gun barrages and with his assistant automatic rifleman charged the crest of the hill, firing from his hip. Fighting furiously against Japanese troops attacking with grenades and knee-mortars from the reverse slope, he stood fearlessly erect in his exposed position to cover the hostile entrenchments and held the hill under savage fire for fifteen minutes, killing sixty Japanese before his ammunition was exhausted and his platoon was able to join him.” Watson was credited for being directly responsible for the continued advance of his platoon. The humble man he was Watson stated in an interview: “I guess I was too excited or something to be scared. After I had taken off my belt to relax I started looking over my magazines and then is when I broke out in a cold sweat. I only had two rounds of ammunition left.” Watson was evacuated from Iwo Jima after he had received a gunshot wound in the neck in March 1945.

For his gallantry in action, Watson was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman during the Nimitz Day Ceremony at the White House on Oct. 5, 1945.

Meanwhile in his hometown Earle preparations were made to celebrate the local hero later that month.

Oct. 25, 1945, was declared a holiday by Earle Mayor M. E. Bird and businesses were to close from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. that day in honor of Watson, who was only the sixth Arkansan to receive the Medal of Honor in World War II. A parade was organized as well as a program at the Earle High School auditorium.

Speeches were held by Arkansas Governor Ben Laney and Representative E. C. “Took” Gathings. The modest hero attributed his shooting skills to his hunting experience. “I guess I grew up with a gun,” Watson said in an interview at his celebration in Earle and that he “wanted to take it easy for a while to get caught up on [his] hunting.”

After he was honorably discharged from the U.S.

Marines in 1946, Watson joined the United States Army Air Force and later the United States Army. He reached the rank of Staff Sergeant and retired from the military in 1966. Watson was married to his wife Patricia and had two children named Ricky, born in 1953, and Darlene, born in 1962. He died at the age of 72 in Russellville, Arkansas in 1994, where he is buried in the Russell Cemetery.

By Thomas R Machnitzki