This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Cpl Robert Rohrer (Bob)
to remember
Marine MGySgt John Boitnott.
If you knew or served with this Marine and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Contact Info
Last Address Dawson Springs, Kentucky
Date of Passing Oct 13, 2008
Location of Interment Jacksonville Memory Gardens - Orange Park, Florida
Wall/Plot Coordinates Garden of the Masonic
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Svc# 313233
12 Jul 1941 - Sep 1941
Enlisted - MCRD Sn Diego, CA Oct 1941
(Pvt) Sea School, MCRD San Diego, CA Oct 1941 - Jan 1942
(Pvt)Â Marine Detachment, U S S Chicago, Pearl Harbor (WIA) Jan 1942 - Feb 1942
(Pvt)Â Marine Detachment, U S S Chicago, Pearl Harbor Feb 1942 - Apr 1942
(Pvt) Marine Detachment, USS Astoria Apr 1942 - Jul 1942
(Pvt)Â Marine Detachment, U.S.S. Yorktown, Operating Pacific Area Jul 1942 - Oct 1942
(Pvt)Â Marine Detachment, U.S.S. Saratoga. Oct 1942 - Jul 1943
(PFC)Â Company B, Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Pearl Harbor Jul 1943 - Jan 1944
(PFC) Sea School Detachment, Marine Barracks, Nnyd, Portsmouth, Virginia (Instructor) Jan 1944 - Dec 1945
(PFC - Cpl) MarDet, USS Hornet CV-12 (WIA) Dec - Jan 1946
(Cpl)(606) Rifle Range Detachment, Marine Barracks, Quantico, Virginia (Instructor) Jan 1946 - Jul 1948
(Sgt)Â Headquarters, Northeastern Recruiting Division, Buffalo, NY. (Recruiter) Jul 1948 - Jul 1949
(Sgt) Weapons Training Battalion, Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina Jul 1949 - Apr 1950
(Sgt-SSgt)Â Guard Co, Headquarters & Service Battalion, Marine Barracks, Camp Lejeune, NC Apr 1950 - Apr 1952
(SSgt)Â Wpns Trng Bn Mcrdep, Parris Island Sc (PMI) Apr 1952 - Oct 1952
(SSgt)(5849) Co I, 3Rd Battalion 5Th Marines, 1St Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force
(Apr 1952 -WIA - Jul 1952 WIA -Â 9 Kills)Â Korea 10 Aug 1952
Meritorious Promotion to Tech Sergeant Oct 1952 - Oct 1953
(TSgt)Â Mb Nas Mps Tenn, Memphis Tenn Oct 1953 - Jul 1956
(TSgt)Â Mp Co Hqbn 2Ndmardiv Fmf, Mri 2 Camp Lejeune N C Jul 1956 - Jan 1958
(TSgt-MSgt)Â Mar Air Base Sq 31 Mag 31 Reinf Afmfl,Mri Cherry Point Jan 1958 - Mar 1958
(MSgt)Â I-I Staff 2D Truck Co Mcr, N and Mcrtc Po Box 298 Augusta Ga (Criminal Investigator School) Apr 1958 - Jul 1959
(MSgt) Mabs 31 Mag 31 Reinf Afafl, Cherry Point, NC Jul 1959 - Jul 1963
(MSgt) Joint Chiefs, Pentagaon Secruity Detail Jul 1963 - Jul 1966
(MGySgt) Criminal Investigation Division Jul 1966 - Jul 1971
(MGySgt) Law Enforcement Bn, Marine Forces Reserve Jul 1971
Retired - MGySgt
Other Comments:
He was wounded during the attack on Pearl Harbor, fought at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and became the most famous Marine sniper of the Korean War . . .
By the time John E. Boitnott, a 30-year-old SSgt from Dawson Creek, Kentucky, left Korea for the United States in late July 1952, he had become a legend.
The Marine Corps sniper, who had earned a Bronze Star with Combat V, Navy Commendation Medal with Combat V, and six purple hearts, two combat action ribbons and numerous campaign medals for his service in WWII and Korea had also gained national attention for his unorthodox - but highly effective - method of taking out communist soldiers.
During a two-day period in 1952, Boitnott, assigned to 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, used his M1C Garand sniper rifle to make nine confirmed kills with nine shots, an extraordinary feat of marksmanship, considering the firing conditions, rifles, and scopes used at the time.
But it wasnâ??t just Boitnott's outstanding shooting that earned him so much notoriety. It was the way he acquired targets. And that's where his seemingly fearless assistant, PFC Henry Friday, came into play.
The hard-charging PFC was not only an observer/spotter, but he frequently volunteered to do something most people would consider downright crazy.
Acting as a live decoy, he would calmly and courageously walk along his company's lines - fully exposing himself to enemy fire - while Boitnott zeroed in on the unsuspecting Chinese snipers trying pick off the young Marine.
The plan worked brilliantly . . . and Friday was never hit.
With war correspondents showing up to cover the extraordinary story, Boitnott and Friday appeared in newspapers across America. But top-ranking Marine officers, worried that Friday was taking unnecessary risks, also appeared on the scene and soon put an end to the two-man operation.
But Boitnott wasn't finished. According to records kept by 5th Marines, he continued his deadly streak, earning eight more confirmed kills before being severely being wounded by enemy rifle and mortar fire. He returned home, recovered from his wounds, and eventually married and had three children.
Postscript:
Boitnott, who had joined the Marines just months before the attack on Pearl Harbor and fought at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, told people that after a Chinese sniperâ??s bullet struck him in his helmet in Korea, he vowed to take out as many enemy soldiers as possible, knowing that for every Chinese sniper he killed, he would save at least one Marine's life.
Boitnott retired from the Marine Corps as a Master Gunnery Sergeant in 1971 after 30 years of service and passed away in his sleep on October 13, 2008 at the age of 86.
Today we pay tribute to John Boitnott, Henry Friday, their families, and all the American snipers who have served, sacrificed, and died during our country's wars. Their remarkable skills, bravery, and dedication undoubtedly saved hundreds of young Americans lives . . .
Lest we forget.
Â
Central Pacific Campaign (1941-43)/Battle of Midway
From Month/Year
June / 1942
To Month/Year
June / 1942
Description The Battle of Midway in the Pacific Theater of Operations was one of the most important naval battles of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, only six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea, the United States Navy (USN), under Admirals Chester W. Nimitz, Frank Jack Fletcher, and Raymond A. Spruance decisively defeated an attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), under Admirals Isoroku Yamamoto, Chuichi Nagumo, and Nobutake Kondo on Midway Atoll, inflicting irreparable damage on the Japanese fleet. Military historian John Keegan called it "the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare." It was Japan's first naval defeat since the Battle of Shimonoseki Straits in 1863.
The Japanese operation, like the earlier attack on Pearl Harbor, sought to eliminate the United States as a strategic power in the Pacific, thereby giving Japan a free hand in establishing its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. The Japanese hoped that another demoralizing defeat would force the U.S. to capitulate in the Pacific War and thus ensure Japanese dominance in the Pacific.
The Japanese plan was to lure the United States' aircraft carriers into a trap. The Japanese also intended to occupy Midway as part of an overall plan to extend their defensive perimeter in response to the Doolittle air raid on Tokyo. This operation was also considered preparatory for further attacks against Fiji, Samoa, and Hawaii itself.
The plan was handicapped by faulty Japanese assumptions of the American reaction and poor initial dispositions. Most significantly, American codebreakers were able to determine the date and location of the attack, enabling the forewarned U.S. Navy to set up an ambush of its own. Four Japanese aircraft carriers—Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu, all part of the six-carrier force that had attacked Pearl Harbor six months earlier—and a heavy cruiser were sunk at a cost of one American aircraft carrier and a destroyer. After Midway and the exhausting attrition of the Solomon Islands campaign, Japan's shipbuilding and pilot training programs were unable to keep pace in replacing their losses, while the U.S. steadily increased its output in both areas.
