Epperson, Harold Glennn born 14-07-1923 in Akron, Ohio,
United States, born 14-07-1923, in Akron, Ohio, and grew up in the nearby town of Massillon. Harold graduated from high school in 1941 and worked for Goodyear Aircraft
for a bit before enlisting in the Marine Corps Reserve
on 12-12-1942, a year into the U.S. involvement in World War II.
A member of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines,
nickname”Comanche”, under command of Lieutenant General Oliver Prince Smith, nicknames, “O.P.”, “the professor”, “student general”
he also shared in the Presidential Unit Citation
awarded his organization for its service at the Battle of Tarawa. The Battle of Tarawa was fought on 20–23 November 1943 between the United States and Japan on Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, now part of the Republic of Kiribati but then a Japanese-occupied British colony. 
Death and burial ground of Epperson, Harold Glenn.
Private First Class
Harold Epperson died in action against the Japanese on Saipan on 25-06-1944, age 20, when he threw himself upon an enemy grenade in order to save the lives of his fellow Marines.
On 19-09-1944, killed in Best, Joe Eugen Mann
also threw his body over an incoming grenade to protect his comrades in their foxhole, near my hometown Eindhoven in the Netherlands, age 22. Eindhoven liberated by the 101 Airborne Division
under command of Major General Maxwell Davenport Taylor
Epperson’s Medal of Honor
was presented to his mother in a ceremony on Wednesday, 04-07-1945, in Tiger Stadium, Massillon, Ohio, with the Massillon High School Band and 8,500 of the people of the town where Epperson grew up. The medal was presented by Colonel Norman E. True, district Marine officer of the 9th Naval District and commanding officer of the Marine Barracks at Great Lakes, Illinois.
Epperson’s parents, who moved to Mount Sterling, Kentucky following their son’s death, returned to Massillon for the ceremonies because they felt their son “would have liked it that way.” The citation signed by President Harry Shipp Truman,
and a letter from General Alexander Archer Vandegrift,
Commandant of the Marine Corps, were read by Col. True during the ceremony. 
Harold Epperson initially buried in the 2nd Marine Division Cemetery on Saipan, Marianas Islands, Private First Class Epperson’s remains were re-interred in Winchester Cemetery, Winchester, Kentucky, 625 West Lexington Avenue, Winchester, KY 40391, in 1948.









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