The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with George Charland. Charland initially provides details of his family history and growing up. He joined the Marine Corps in 1939. He completed boot camp at Camp Elliott in California and provides details of his training. In June of 1941 he was assigned to the 3rd Marine Defense Battalion, H & S Company in Hawaii. He was serving guard detail at Marine Corps Air Station Ewa, 7 miles west of Pearl Harbor on the morning of 7 December 1941. Charland provides vivid details of his experiences through the attack. For the next month he and his sergeant went through the harbor in the captain’s gig picking up survivors and the dead. In August of 1942 he was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, E Company, 2nd Marines, 2nd Marine Division in New Zealand. In November of 1943 he participated in the Battle of Tarawa. Upon getting wounded he boarded the USS Comfort (AH-6) and went back to Hawaii, where Admiral Chester Nimitz awarded him a Purple Heart. He was then assigned to the 4th Marine Division in February of 1944 and supported the infantry during the battles of Saipan, Tinian and …