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Willard was credited with serving more consecutive days under constant enemy fire than any chaplain in the history of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.
Willard landed with the Marines during the World War II battle at Guadalcanal, and of the eight chaplains who served the Marines there, he was the only survivor. In 1944, he was awarded the Legion of Merit, the Navy's highest honor, for his service with the 2nd Marine division during the 1943 battle at Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands.
After seeking special permission to go ashore with his men, Willard, despite heavy enemy fire, evacuated the wounded and gave spiritual comfort to the dying. He paced the beach in full view, chanting "I'm Chaplain Willard and you can't shoot me!"
Willard, known for holding baptisms and conducting religious classes aboard ship, also received two Presidential citations for meritorious service under fire. In a letter to his family published on Oct. 18, 1942, in the Boston Globe, he wrote about helping doctors at a clinic in the Solomon Islands: "At night I held the dim blue flashlight for them at the operating table, where they removed shrapnel and bullets... I am glad the good Lord could use me in this service, also that He placed me here to preach the gospel, to give out pocket testaments to each man and tell them individually the story of Christ." At Tarawa, those pocket testaments possibly saved lives, they were said to deflect bullets from the bodies of four men who carried them.
During his long career in the ministry, Willard was pastor of Forestdale Baptist Church in Sandwich, Mass.; Federated Church in Kingston, Mass.; Third Baptist Church in Barnstable, Mass.; and First Presbyterian Church in Waltham, Mass. He founded and directed Camp Good News, which still aims to win young people to Christ. The former moderator of the Boston Presbytery, he was also the author of several books, including The Leathernecks Come Through*, which was quoted in Random House's A History of the Marine Corps in World War II. He served for twenty years as a chaplain in the U.S. Naval Reserve, retiring with the rank of commander. He was also assistant to the President of Wheaton College for a few years.
Central Pacific Campaign (1941-43)/Battle of Tarawa
From Month/Year
November / 1943
To Month/Year
November / 1943
Description The Battle of Tarawa (US code name Operation Galvanic) was a battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II, fought from November 20 to November 23, 1943. It took place at the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, located in what is now the nation of Kiribati. Nearly 6,400 Japanese, Koreans, and Americans died in the fighting, mostly on and around the small island of Betio.
The Battle of Tarawa was the first American offensive in the critical central Pacific region. It was also the first time in the war that the United States faced serious Japanese opposition to an amphibious landing. Previous landings met little or no initial resistance, but this time the 4,500 Japanese defenders were well-supplied and well-prepared, and they fought almost to the last man, exacting a heavy toll on the United States Marine Corps. The US had suffered similar casualties in other campaigns, for example over the six months of the Guadalcanal Campaign, but in this case the losses were incurred within the space of 76 hours.
