William Darling was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1925. He always wanted to be in the military. He wanted to go to military school, but it was during the Depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s] and money was tight. His mother stayed at home. His father was a home builder. When the war started one of the Christian schools converted to a military school. Darling went there and enjoyed it. He was the First Sergeant of Baker Company [Annotator's Note: at the school] at 17 years old. His father was a veteran of World War 1. Darling got his draft notice, and when he went in, he volunteered for the Marine Corps. He reported to boot camp in San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California]. He made PFC [Annotator's Note: Private First Class]. He was sent to Camp Elliot [Annotator's Note: in San Diego] for advanced infantry training. He was enrolled in light machine gun training. In March 1944 they sailed to New Caledonia [Annotator's Note: New Caledonia, Oceania]. He was put into the 1st Marine Division, Company K, 3rd Battalion,1st Marine Regiment. They began training for Peleliu [Annotator's Note: Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II, September to November 1944 at Peleliu, Palau]. There were land crabs, and they would get into the men's boots. There were rats. There were no showers. They were allowed to swim in the bay.

William Darling [Annotator's Note: with Company K, 3rd Battalion,1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] was fascinated by the men who had been in combat. He was a replacement Marine. When he got to Peleliu [Annotator's Note: Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II, September to November 1944 at Peleliu, Palau] his tent mate was killed and it shook him. Most of the men who had been in combat were friendly to the new guys. When they got to Peleliu they were supposed to hit the beach and go to the left. Their goal was to get the point [Annotator's Note: the southern landing beaches]. They practiced until they could do it blindfolded. When they landed at Peleliu they had several issues. Darling and a corpsman [Annotator's Note: enlisted medical specialist in the US Navy who may also serve in the US Marine Corps] went up to the point and discovered they were in Japanese territory. They could not dig foxholes on Peleliu. Darling saw Colonel Puller [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Lieutenant General Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller] on the front lines. Darling had to help a wounded man whose guts were spilling out. He helped take several guys to the aid station. He got shot in the knee and was evacuated to New Caledonia [Annotator's Note: New Caledonia, Oceania]. He was wounded on 16 September 1944. After that he started training for Okinawa Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan]. The training was difficult because they did not have a large training area, and the terrain was different than Peleliu. Darling was scared he would get shot but dying was not a factor. When he landed on Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, 1 April to 22 June 1945 at Okinawa, Japan], he was sure he would get killed. Everyone was scared. The Corps drilled into them that if they did their job, they would be okay. He was a stretcher-bearer on Peleliu

William Darling [Annotator's Note: with Company K, 3rd Battalion,1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] arrived at Peleliu [Annotator's Note: Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II, September to November 1944 at Peleliu, Palau] on the LST 227 [Annotator's Note: USS LST-227]. They were given their ammunition the day before. They were ordered to get their gear on. The LSTs [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] had large exhaust fans and the tank deck was filled with exhaust smoke. When they hit the water, they were standing up to smell the fresh air. When they went around the stern of the battleship Tennessee [Annotator's Note: USS Tennessee (BB-43)], they experienced the concussion of the guns in the water. As they neared the beach they ducked down. As they reached the sand there was an explosion on the side of their tractor. Darling had to go over the side to get on the beach. They lost their stretcher and became riflemen. The corpsman [Annotator's Note: enlisted medical specialist in the US Navy who may also serve in the US Marine Corps] had to go up to the point [Annotator's Note: the southern landing beaches]. Darling volunteered to go with him. He stayed up there as a rifleman until the second platoon got there. There were several pillboxes [Annotator's Note: type of blockhouse, or concrete, reinforced, dug-in guard post, normally equipped with slits for firing guns] down below the point. Their platoon leader was killed there. The officers did not really associate with the enlisted men. When Darling was wounded, they sent him back to New Caledonia [Annotator's Note: New Caledonia, Oceania] to a hospital.

William Darling [Annotator's Note: with Company K, 3rd Battalion,1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] was on the beach on the first night on Peleliu [Annotator's Note: Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II, September to November 1944 at Peleliu, Palau]. He was helping another soldier get back to the aid station. He got shrapnel in his arm the first night. He went with a corpsman [Annotator's Note: enlisted medical specialist in the US Navy who may also serve in the US Marine Corps] up to the point [Annotator's Note: the southern landing beaches] on the second day. He knew he had to get to the point because they were supposed to take it the second platoon was trapped. When he got to the point he was involved in several firefights on the ridges. He had to take the stretcher down. When he got shot, he was running. He stumbled and thought he tripped and hurt his knee. Getting shot was not as bad as the gunshot wound treatment. He had to limp to the aid station. They put him on a stretcher to take him to the ship. He went back to New Caledonia [Annotator's Note: New Caledonia, Oceania] to go to a hospital. The bullet only went through the skin not the joint. After that, he rejoined the division. When he got there the Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal Campaign, 7 August 1942 to 9 February 1943 at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands] guys were going back to the States [Annotator's Note: United States]. It was hot at Peleliu. It was so hot they did not sweat. They had several water trailers brought aboard. They drank water like it was going out of style. They used the LSTs [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank]. When he went aboard the hospital ship, he had camouflage paint on his face and had coral stuck in it.

William Darling [Annotator's Note: with Company K, 3rd Battalion,1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] made fire team leader when they started training again [Annotator's Note: after the Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II, September to November 1944 at Peleliu, Palau]. Some of the guys from Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal Campaign, 7 August 1942 to 9 February 1943 at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands] had malaria [Annotator's Note: mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite]. After they came back from combat, they did not have to do much work right away. At New Year's [Annotator's Note: 1 January 1945], they started training for Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, 1 April to 22 June 1945 at Okinawa, Japan]. All their mail was censored on the island. When they were training for Peleliu, Bob Hope [Annotator's Note: Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope KBE; British-American entertainer who was famous for entertaining American troops serving overseas during World War 2, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War] was performing on another island close by. The commanders went to see if Hope would do a show for the 1st Marine Division who was getting ready to leave for combat. Hope said he would do it. Darling thought it was a great show. A lot of the men married girls from Melbourne [Annotator's Note: Melbourne, Australia].

William Darling [Annotator's Note: with Company K, 3rd Battalion,1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] was told Peleliu [Annotator's Note: Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II, September to November 1944 at Peleliu, Palau] would be a three-day affair and that was wrong. His regiment was reserved for the division. When they got to Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, 1 April to 22 June 1945 at Okinawa, Japan] their boats got mixed up. His boat went in on the second day. When they landed, their job was to patrol the northern end of the island. On 15 April [Annotator's Note: 15 April 1945], they relieved another regiment. They tried for two days to get through a little village. On the third day, they got through. By this time Darling was a fire team leader. When it rained, his rifle swelled up and started giving him issues. His BAR [Annotator's Note: M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle; also known as the BAR] man had been shot. The Japanese knew there was a hole in their line. Someone threw a grenade in the end foxhole. Darling started to get scared. A Japanese soldier jumped up and ran and Darling shot him. The next day they joined up with another company. Darling was helping get wounded men back to the beach. Their lieutenant had been wounded. After that, they were moved into a reserve area. Darling was made a squad leader. He was hit by mortar fire, and then woke up the next day in a foxhole. He had shrapnel wounds up and down his body. He was evacuated to a hospital ship and then was rotated back to the States [Annotator's Note: United States]. He was discharged on Christmas Eve in 1945 [Annotator's Note: 24 December 1945]. When he got home, he got married. He went back to school. He was called back to go to Korea [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953]. Since he was wounded twice during World War 2, he did not go overseas. He moved to California. He stayed in contact with some of the other men in his division. He just did his job during the war.