Eighty-two years ago, Marine John Basilone ran through enemy lines, ferrying ammunition to his fellow troops as fierce fighting waged on the island of

Navy destroyer commissioned in honor of legendary Marine John Basilone

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2024-11-29 20:30:05

Eighty-two years ago, Marine John Basilone ran through enemy lines, ferrying ammunition to his fellow troops as fierce fighting waged on the island of Guadalcanal. His actions helped hold off Japanese attacks and earned Basilone the Medal of Honor. He became a hero not just for the Marine Corps but for Americans during the war.

Now the Navy has a new destroyer named in his honor. The USS John Basilone, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, was officially commissioned by the U.S. Navy on Saturday, Nov. 9.

The ceremony was attended not just by the crew, but Navy and Marine Corps leadership, several Marines and Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro. It was held in New York, only a few miles from Basilone’s childhood home. The destroyer was commissioned just a day before the Marine Corps’ 249th birthday on Nov. 10.

The ship was christened in 2022, bearing the name of Gunnery Sgt. Basilone, “one of the most decorated Marines in our nation’s history,” as Del Toro noted. Born in 1916 in Buffalo, New York, Basilone originally served as a soldier in the Army. He served for three years, mostly in the Philippines, his first time in the Pacific. After his enlistment ended, he then joined the United States Marine Corps, where he would become legendary. He joined in 1940, but when the United States entered World War II, Basilone was shipped off to the island of Guadalcanal.