PRIVATE FIRST CLASS
JOHN DURY NEW, USMC (DECEASED)
 

Medal of Honor Citation

Private First Class John Dury New, 19, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for gallantry in action at the cost of his life on Peleliu, 25 September 1944.

John D. New was born 12 August 1924 in Mobile, Alabama, and attended St. Joseph's Parochial School and the public schools of that city. He enlisted in the Marine Corps on 8 December 1941, the first Mobile man to enlist after Pearl Harbor. On 12 December, he joined the 4th Recruit Battalion at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina, and following recruit training served at Quantico, Virginia.

In September 1942, Pvt New joined the 4th Replacement Battalion, Fleet Marine Force, Training Center, at San Diego, California. He sailed for duty overseas the following month, and took part in the Guadalcanal campaign as a member of 2d Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division. He shared in the Presidential Unit Citation awarded the Division on Guadalcanal. He later took part in the seizure and occupation of Cape Gloucester, New Britain, and in the defense of the airfield in the vicinity of Cape Gloucester.

Promoted to private first class in April 1944, he moved from Cape Gloucester to Pavuvu, Russell Islands, to Guadalcanal, and on 15 September 1944 sailed for Peleliu in the Palau Islands. Nine days later, he was killed in action on Peleliu when he flung himself on an enemy hand grenade to save the lives of two comrades.

The Medal of Honor, awarded PFC New posthumously, was presented to his father.

Initially buried in the U.S. Armed Forces Cemetery on Peleliu, PFC New's remains were reinterred in the Mobile National Cemetery, Mobile, Alabama, in 1948.

World War II 1941-1945 Medal of Honor