PFC Donald Traub Purple Heart front

PFC Donald Traub Purple Heart front
Wounded in Action, 23 March 1945
Aged 19

Donald William Traub enlisted in the Marine Corps as a 17 year old, in October 1943. Sent to Parris Island, SC he was trained as a Fire Control Instrument Operator (Field Artillery-Fire Computer).

By 1945, he was assigned to Headquarters and Service Battery, 2nd Battalion, 13th Marines, 5th Marine Division. Traub's assignment to 2/13 coincided with their participation on the Battle of Iwo Jima. This would be his first and last action on the Pacific War. He had served with the unit since the beginning of the battle unscathed, but on 23 March (seven days after the island was declared "secured"), his luck ran out. As his division assaulted General Koribayashi's last stronghold, Traub was hit by gunshot(s) in the right chest. Seriously wounded he was evacuated by air to Guam and later San Francisco, where he fully recovered from his wound.

Promoted to the rank of corporal in April 1946, Traub was transferred from the Marine Barracks Brooklyn and then to the Provisional Marine Guard, United Nations. This unique unit guarded the UN Headquarters from 1947 to 1950, before being disbanded.