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| Lt. Seymour Terry earned the Medal of Honor leading his men to take Zebra Hill from the Japanese during the Battle of Okinawa. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9826 https://www.eucmh.be/2018/09/20/96th-infantry-division-okinawa-conical-oboe-hill-area-may-1945/ |
Seymour W. Terry never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on December 11, 1918 in Little Rock, Arkansas. His parents William and Annie were also both born in Arkansas. His father worked as a dairy merchant and later as a loan company executive. Seymour had an older brother and sister. By 1940 Seymour was still living with his parents and had completed three years of college at the University of Arkansas. He graduated a year later and got a job as a sales manager for a dairy company.
He enlisted in the army on June 17, 1942. He was sent to officer candidate school and was commissioned a second lieutenant in January 1943. He was assigned to the 382nd Infantry Regiment, 96th Infantry Division. He acted as a platoon leader, munitions officer, motor transport officer, and intelligence staff officer. A year later he was promoted to first lieutenant.
In July, Lt. Terry took part in the invasion of Leyte, Philippines. In October 1944, he earned the Bronze Star for rescuing a wounded solider under mortar fire.
On March 6, 1945 Lt. Terry was appointed the executive officer of Company H. His unit invaded Okinawa on April 1. Five days later Lt. Terry was promoted to company commander, most likely due to the death or wounding of the original commander. On April 27 he was made commander of Company B, again likely due to the prior commander being killed or wounded. Within two weeks his battalion commander would need a replacement for Lt. Terry. (The Americans casualties averaged more than 1,000 per day including more than 150 deaths every day.)
On May 11, 1945 General Buckner ordered the beginning of a new attack to wrest control of the southern half of the island from the Japanese. Company B was given the assignment of attacking Zebra Hill. Lt. Terry was killed in action while exhibiting courage that would result in a posthumous Medal of Honor.
Seymour Terry's Medal of Honor citation reads as follows:
1st Lt. Terry was leading an attack against heavily defended Zebra Hill when devastating fire from 5 pillboxes halted the advance. He braved the hail of bullets to secure satchel charges and white phosphorus grenades, and then ran 30 yards directly at the enemy with an ignited charge to the first stronghold, demolished it, and moved on to the other pillboxes, bombarding them with his grenades and calmly cutting down their defenders with rifle fire as they attempted to escape. When he had finished this job by sealing the 4 pillboxes with explosives, he had killed 20 Japanese and destroyed 3 machineguns.
The advance was again held up by an intense grenade barrage which inflicted several casualties. Locating the source of enemy fire in trenches on the reverse slope of the hill, 1st Lt. Terry, burdened by 6 satchel charges launched a 1-man assault. He wrecked the enemy's defenses by throwing explosives into their positions and himself accounted for 10 of the 20 hostile troops killed when his men overran the area.
Pressing forward again toward a nearby ridge, his 2 assault platoons were stopped by slashing machinegun and mortar fire. He fearlessly ran across 100 yards of fire-swept terrain to join the support platoon and urge it on in a flanking maneuver. This thrust, too, was halted by stubborn resistance.
1st Lt. Terry began another 1-man drive, hurling grenades upon the strongly entrenched defenders until they fled in confusion, leaving 5 dead behind them. Inspired by this bold action, the support platoon charged the retreating enemy and annihilated them.
Soon afterward, while organizing his company to repulse a possible counterattack, the gallant company commander was mortally wounded by the burst of an enemy mortar shell.
By his indomitable fighting spirit, brilliant leadership, and unwavering courage in the face of tremendous odds, 1st Lt. Terry made possible the accomplishment of his unit's mission and set an example of heroism in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service.
Lt. Terry was posthumously promoted to the rank of Captain.
His grave is at Roselawn Memorial Park in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Last year on this date I profiled PFC Henry Deckert, the first American tanker killed in a tank battle in WW2. You can read about Henry here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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