George P. Stanaland

Conflicts & Campaigns

• American Expeditionary Forces, France, World War I Battles; Chateau - Thierry; St. Mihiel; Champagne - Marne; Argonne Forest. At Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Significant Duty Stations

• Machine Gun Battalion, 42nd Infantry Division; Hickam Field, Oahu, Hawaii; Chanute Field, Champaign, Illinois

Notes

Sergeant Stanaland was in bed asleep at his NCO quarters that fateful December 7th morning when the first Japanese bombs hit Hickam Field. He stepped to his window and saw a Japanese pursuit plane go down in flames, one of the first victim of American gunnery in this war. Of course he dressed and went on duty. Being a line chief, He directed some of the work dispensing airplanes over the landing field. Before the raid was over Sergeant Stanaland's ear drums were punctured by the concussion of a heavy bomb which fell about 150 feet from him. He is in a limited service status. He contributed much to getting a part of the battered air fleet back into the sky before he left Pearl Harbor. His service in World War I was as a member of a machine gun battalion in the famed Rainbow Division.