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Wartime Heritage
ASSOCIATION
Remembering World War II
John Douglas Murray
Private
987782
USMC
HQ/Service Company,
7th Marine Regiment, USMC
March 23, 1919
Hartford, Connecticut, USA
June 6, 1944
25
5 feet, 10 inches
Light
Blue
Brown
Married
Althea Nettie Murray (Wife) Hartford, Connecticut
May 9, 1945
(KIA Dakeshi Ridge, Okinawa)
26
Northwood Cemetery, Windsor, Connecticut, USA
John Douglas Murray was the son of John Fyfe Murray (1894-1979) and Isaline Genevra (Snow) Murray
(1890-1970). His mother was born in Baccaro, Shelburne Co., Nova Scotia. She immigrated to the United
States in 1912, graduating from nursing school in 1918. John’s father was born in Renfrewshire,
Scotland, immigrating to the United States in 1912. John Douglas was the brother of Margaret Leona
(Murray) Metheny (1921-2017) and William R. Murray (1922-2008).
John married Althea Nettie Harger (1920-1996) and they had two children, a daughter Lynne Althea and a
son, Bruce.
John attended Weaver High School in Hartford, Connecticut, graduating in 1937.
In 1939 he graduated from Bay Path Institute of Business Administration at
Springfield, Mass. He played banjo and guitar, could draw and paint, played
baseball and golf and was a member of Bay Path Dramatic Club and Varsity Golf
Team.
Prior to his enlistment, he was employed with Whitney Chain and Manufacturing
Company. Enlisting on June 6, 1944 he was deployed to the Pacific war zone in
December 1944. “He spent New Year’s Eve on watch aboard a transport off a
small island on the fringe of fighting. His last letter home told of the nights in
Okinawa, huddled with others in foxholes as the red and yellow flamed rockets kept up a thunderous
barrage.” (Hartford Courant August 8, 1945)
He was assigned to the 7th Regiment of the 1st Marine Division as a replacement just before the battle
for Dakeshi Ridge in the southern area of Okinawa. On May 9, 1945, his company was assaulting the ridge
under heavy machine gun and grenade fire. With six others he took cover in a shell hole from where
they continued to fire on the enemy. When a grenade landed in the hole Private Murray, without
hesitation, dived on it, covering the grenade with his body. He was killed instantly. His fellow
companions escaped unharmed. (Hartford Courant August 8, 1945)
Private John Douglas Murray is buried in the Northwood Cemetery, Windsor, Connecticut, USA.
The following was written by Bruce Murray, the son of Private John Douglas Murray in 2008
John Douglas Murray
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My Father was a marine in WW II and was killed on Dakeshi Ridge in Okinawa on May 9,
1945 in a fierce battle. His death was announced on the same front page of the Hartford
Courant as the bombing of Hiroshima. The story went that my father was in a foxhole with
six other men when a Japanese hand grenade rolled in. There was no time to think, my
father just covered it with his body, giving his life to save the other six.
His body wasn't returned to the US until January 1949 after a lot of discussion between my
mother and grandparents. My grandparents wanted him buried at Arlington Cemetery but
mom wanted him nearby. He was buried in Soldier's Field in Wilson, CT and my Uncle Bill
built a house nearby. You could see the cemetery from the second floor of the house back
then but now trees have grown up and blocked the view.
When his body was returned, it was a very snowy day and my Grandfather and Uncle Bill
met the train in Windsor. The casket was left on a huge, heavy railroad luggage cart in the
snow. They tried to move it but the snow was too deep. Finally, the military Honor Guard
picked up the casket and carried through the snow to the funeral home, approximately a
mile away. During the walk they passed my grandparents' home and my grandmother
watched as they carried it by. I heard this story from my Uncle Bill and he broke into tears
as he told it. During the 70's a folk singer named Pratt wrote and recorded a song about
this incident.
My uncles tried to get the Congressional Medal of Honor for my father but there were no
surviving witnesses (his immediate three superior officers were all killed in the battle) so
no medal was awarded until 1997 after another effort resulted in a Navy Silver Star which
was awarded at the National Iwo Jima Memorial in New Britain CT.
