The KA-Bar Knife

Memorial Day is next Monday, the 25^th of May, and this last Thursday I was told about a simple occurrence that turned into a poignant remembrance on a number of levels. My brother-in–law, Darryl Marshall is from Church Point, Louisiana, a small town in the southwestern part of the state. On a whim, he decided to go back and view the old family home and visit the cemetery. The home is still there but has since been sold to another family. The cemetery is fairly close to the home and the new owner, seeing Darryl at the cemetery, walked over to speak with him. It seems that he had been saving an object for Darryl for some time.

While remodeling the kitchen, the new owners had recovered a knife below the cabinets by the kitchen sink. It was an old knife. It was rust covered and the handle had chips in it, but Darryl remembered that it was the knife that his father had given him on his return from the Pacific in World War II. Darryl is almost 75 now and he recalls that his father unpacked three of them from his duffle bag. His father was unsure of the owner but offered that it was probably from some fellow Marine on Guam. Being about ten years old and the new owner of a large fixed blade KA-Bar fighting knife did not go over so well with his grandmother who confiscated the knife before Darryl could do any damage to himself.

Darryl routinely collects military memorabilia and the history of the knife, and who the original carrier of the knife might have been, spurred him to research. For all of the bad things the Internet offers, it also has an abundance of information at your fingertips.  The leather handle was in bad condition but Darryl could pick out the letters for the name of Oren Hill.  On the other side of the handle was the word, “TEX,” probably the nickname picked up from his platoon mates.  Platoon Sergeant Oren Ralph Hill served with the Marines from 1940 until 1944. From 1941 until July 21, 1944, he served with the 2^nd Battalion, 2^nd Marine Regiment. He participated in the landings at Guadalcanal and at Bougainville. He already had one Purple Heart when he landed at Guam where he was killed by Japanese small arms fire.  According to the lists of Texans killed in WWII, only his mother survived him.

Memorial Day was first observed as a holiday for the Union soldiers of the Civil War and later amended to honor all persons who had given their lives in the United States military. In 1971 Memorial Day was incorporated into other Federal holidays as a Monday holiday so that we might have three-day weekends. The natural consequence of that action is that we look forward to the leisure time but not backward to remember what the cost has been to have this freedom. This next Monday, I will remember SSG Hill and his KA-Bar knife.