William Ojala
Era: World War II
Military Branch: Marines
William R. Ojala enlisted in the Marine Corps on August 4, 1942.
He was a Corporal and a gun crewman with the 2nd Special Weapons Battalion, 2nd Marine Division and the 13th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion, 6th Defense Force.
He says: "I wanted to get into Marine aviation for flight training. The recruiter told me I would be able to take a test in boot camp for the military specialty I wanted. I left by train for San Diego. I took my test for flight training on the third Sunday of boot training and came in first in two tests with about 50 other Marines. The lieutenant in charge told me he had never seen such high test scores and told me to look out the window at North Island (Marine Aviation), that I would be going there after boot training.
"My dream of flight training went down the tubes on breakup day. All of us were sent to Camp Elliot to the 2nd Marine Div. and went overseas... from San Diego on Oct. 20, 1942 to New Zealand for additional training. Our 1st platoon was already in the battle of Guadalcanal and one other platoon was ordered there in December 1942. The platoon leaders flipped a coin to see who would go. Our platoon lost the flip and stayed in New Zealand. We participated in the invasion of Tarawa in November 1943 and the Division was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation.
"After the battle we resumed training for the forthcoming landings on Saipan and Tinian. One day in February 1944, 300 of us were told to pack up and were sent to Pearl Harbor to board the USS San Diego, a light cruiser, for a quick three-day trip to Mare Island, Calif. The scuttlebutt was that we would join other Marines for the invasion of Europe. I had a 30-day delay enroute to Camp Lejeune, N.C. A few days later we left by train to San Diego and then to Camp Catlin, just outside Pearl Harbor. I lucked out and drew garrison duty on Midway Island where I remained until the war was over. While there, I told the commanding officer about my interest in aviation and boot camp experiences. He put me through a battery of tests and I was found qualified...and eligible for transfer to the States for flight training. The war ended before I was transferred, and I elected to go home on the point system....I was discharged on Dec. 1, 1945 at Great Lakes, Ill."
Source: Hometown Heroes: The St. Louis County World War II Project. 229.
