Joseph L. Harrison was born in March 1923 in Live Oak County in George West, Texas. When he was about five years old, his family moved to Huntsville, Arkansas. At age 15, his parents separated and Harrison moved to California for a few months before returning to Arkansas. He went into the CCC [Annotator's Note: Civilian Conservation Corps] and learned welding and electrical work. He drove trucks. He went back to California and worked as a pipe welder's helper in a shipyard. He was making good money at only 17 years old. He worked in the shipyard until September 1942. He wanted to join the SeaBees [Annotator's Note: members of US naval construction battalions], but ended up joining the Marines. He was already a good shot, having hunted squirrels when he was younger. After boot camp, he went to sniper training. He was sent to New Caledonia as a replacement. There, he volunteered for Carlson's Raiders [Annotator's Note: 2nd Marine Raider Battalion commanded by US Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Evans Fordyce Carlson] and continued training, including practice landings. On their way to Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan], they stopped overnight on Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands]. Harrison was in the third wave on Bougainville [Annotator's Note: Bougainville campaign, 1 November 1943 to 21 August 1945; Bougainville, Solomon Islands]. He served as a runner for Captain Burnett [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] of Company H, 2nd Raiders. As soon as they landed, Burnett sent Harrison to find a regimental CP [Annotator’s Note: command post]. He heard a shots fired and saw one of the unit's chaplains on the ground. His helmet had taken a sniper's bullet, but he was okay. Later, he was part of the Battle for Piva Trail [Annotator's Note: 8 to 9 November 1943, Bougainville] when he saw two Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] and fired at one. Two or three weeks later, they were relieved by the Army and went back to Guadalcanal for more training, then headed to Emirau [Annotator's Note: Emirau, Papua New Guinea]. When they landed, there were no Japanese, but there were natives. The women did not wear blouses. One of the men walked around completely nude, and used a wheelbarrow to support his testicle which was the size of watermelon. [Annotator's Note: Harrison laughs.]

Joseph L. Harrison and his unit [Annotator's Note: the 4th Marine Regiment, 6th Marine Division] went back to Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands] for more training and to resupply, then headed for Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands]. They were held in reserve for Saipan [Annotator's Note: Battle of Saipan, 15 June to 9 July 1944; Saipan, Mariana Islands] and Tinian [Annotator's Note: Battle of Tinian, 24 July to 1 August 1944; Tinian, Mariana Islands]. They were on the ship for 72 days and began to run low on food. They ended up in Eniwetok [Annotator's Note: Eniwetok or Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands] to get supplies and then rejoined a convoy headed for Guam [Annotator's Note: Battle of Guam, 1 July to 10 August 1944; Guam, Mariana Islands]. Harrison was in the fifth wave going into Guam. There were coral reefs which made it nearly impossible to get to all the way to shore. Harrison was driving a truck pulling an anti-tank gun, while the gun crew had already gone in in previous waves. He had to drive off the landing craft before getting to the beach and was pulled in by an amphibious tractor [Annotator's Note: Landing Vehicle, Tracked or LVT; also referred to as amtrack or alligator]. There was a Japanese pillbox and troops were hitting it with flamethrowers [Annotator's Note: ranged incendiary device that projects a controllable jet of fire]. He was able to join up with his gun crew. That night, they camped in a rice paddy. They knew there were Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] in the area. The next morning, Father Redmond, the regimental chaplain, came out with a .45 [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber M1911 semi-automatic pistol] in his hand and told the Marines to follow him to go clean out the enemy snipers. The Army came in to relieve the Marines. The Japanese sent up several tanks but the Marines were able to take them out. There were banzai charges [Annotator's Note: Japanese suicide attacks carried out by infantry units] at night, and several people were killed. After cleaning up the peninsula the next day, Harrison got orders to pass through the 3rd Division [Annotator's Note: 3rd Marine Division] to link up with the 6th Division [Annotator's Note: 6th Marine Division] on the northern end of the island and return to Guadalcanal.

Joseph L. Harrison went back to a rear base at Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: after participating in the retaking of Guam, 1 July to 10 August 1944; Guam, Mariana Islands] to retrain and prepare for the invasion of Okinawa [Annotator's Note: the Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg; 1 April to 22 June 1945; Okinawa, Japan]. They landed on 1 April [Annotator's Note: 1 April 1945]. When the ship went in to unload its troops, they were about five miles from shore when they started taking artillery. They finally made it ashore. Their objective the first day was to take the airfield a quarter of a mile from the shore. As Harrison reached the airfield, a Japanese plane came in to land and Marines opened fire on it. They cut the island in two, and Harrison's unit [Annotator's Note: 4th Marine Regiment, 6th Marine Division] started heading northwards. They got word that President Roosevelt had died [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States, died 12 April 1945], and shortly after Ernie Pyle [Annotator's Note: Ernest Taylor Pyle; American journalist and war correspondent] also died on Okinawa [Annotator's Note: 18 April 1945 on Ie Shima, Japan]. Harrison got orders to head south to the Shuri Castle defense line. His special weapons unit became a front line unit. The next day, his sergeant was hit by a sniper. Harrison and a few other men carried him to an aid station. Once they cleaned up the other side of the island, Harrison was shipped back to Guam. There, he reconnected with the wounded sergeant who was doing okay.

Two or three weeks after Joseph L. Harrison arrived back on Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands], the atomic bombs were dropped [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] and Japan was considering a surrender. His unit [Annotator's Note: 4th Marine Regiment, 6th Marine Division] got orders to go to the beach to pick up brand new guns and trucks, and they had two new M7s [Annotator's Note: M7 Priest; 105mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7; self-propelled artillery vehicle]. They headed for Yokosuka, Japan with two other regiments. Some of the units went into China. This was around 30 August [Annotator's Note: 30 August 1945]. Harrison saw some American POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war] held by the Japanese, they were skin and bones. Harrison was told to take his jeep to headquarters where he was ordered to take some correspondents to MacArthur's [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] headquarters in Yokohama [Annotator's Note: Yokohama, Japan]. When he neared the city, there was a roadblock manned by Japanese soldiers with machine guns. He got through, reached the headquarters and saw MacArthur and General Wainwright [Annotator's Note: US Army General Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, IV] along with other important officers there for the surrender ceremony [Annotator's Note: 2 September 1945]. One of these officers asked Harrison to bring him into Tokyo [Annotator's Note: Tokyo, Japan]. Most of the city was burned down. Several Japanese businessmen kept approaching Harrison and checking out his jeep. A large crowd gathered around him and he got nervous, so he took out his rifle and everyone scattered. A man came and apologized, explaining that the people had seen newsreels of American jeeps and were just curious. Harrison and the correspondents were taken to dinner at the Imperial Hotel, then drove around the city sightseeing.

After Bougainville [Annotator's Note: Bougainville campaign, 1 November 1943 to 21 August 1945; Bougainville, Solomon Islands], the Raider battalions were broken up, and the original Raiders were sent back to the United States to form up the 5th Division [Annotator's Note: 5th Marine Division], and were later sent to Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Battle of Iwo Jima; 19 February to 26 March 1945; Iwo Jima, Japan]. Joseph L. Harrison got his driver's license at age 14, and drove for the CCC [Annotator's Note: Civilian Conservation Corps] before the war. He approached his captain, saying that he heard drivers were needed and volunteered. So after participating at Bougainville with the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion [Annotator's Note: known as Carlson's Raiders], he became a driver in a special weapons unit [Annotator's Note: Weapons Company, 4th Marine Regiment, 6th Marine Division] until the end of the war. On Okinawa [Annotator's Note: the Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg; 1 April to 22 June 1945; Okinawa, Japan] there were a lot of volcanic caves that the Japanese dug into. Harrison and a few other men were exploring the caves and a Japanese tried to stab one of the other men. They got away and threw grenades into the cave. Harrison then crawled into the cave on his belly and shot the soldiers who remained alive after the grenade. After clearing another cave of an officer and enlisted man, Harrison and a buddy took souvenirs. He still has the pistol he took. He heard a child crying in a different section of the cave, and Harrison tried to coax him out with the Japanese phrases that he had had learned. The child and some women eventually came out and were taken to an area dedicated for Japanese prisoners and civilians. When on Guam [Annotator's Note: Battle of Guam, 1 July to 10 August 1944; Guam, Mariana Islands], they set up a road block and Harrison was assigned to a machine gun. As someone approached, he began firing but the gun was not solid and the tripod slipped. He managed to hit the person who turned out to be a doctor or corpsman and Harrison took his medical kit.

Joseph L. Harrison was in Yokosuka [Annotator's Note: Yokosuka, Japan] in November [Annotator's Note: November 1945]. On his way home, they stopped in Hawaii before arriving in San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] on Thanksgiving Day of 1945. Harrison remained in reserve for a few weeks. He went to Canyon, Texas to see his family. He began working in shipyards again and went back to San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California] and was discharged. He got into construction work in Desert Hot Springs [Annotator's Note: Desert Hot Springs, California] and met his wife there. They had four sons. When Harrison was enlisting, he did not want to go Germany. He wanted to fight the Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] for what they had done in Hawaii [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He did not let the fact that he might die bother him too much during the war. He retired from work in 1963. He first saw combat on Bougainville [Annotator's Note: Bougainville campaign, 1 November 1943 to 21 August 1945; Bougainville, Solomon Islands]. On Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan], one of the replacements troops was so scared that he passed out. Harrison was able to bring him around, but it happened again. The next day, the man just was not himself and was taken off the lines. Harrison was one of the older troops by that time, and the others called him Pappy.