Pfc. Paul A. NARROW

PAUL A. NARROW
_________________

Paul A.NARROW

Private, "F" Co., 2d Bn, 503d PRCT

K.I.A., Grubbs Ravine, Corregidor

22 February 1945

The entry in the "F" Company History for 22 February 1945 which gives me cause for serious doubt is as follows:

First platoon moved down Sheeny Ravine in the attack & met heavy enemy resistance consisting of rifle and machine gun fire. During this attack Pfc. Narrow, Yocum, & Sgt (Pvt) George Mikel was killed. Pfc. Stanley Stanley Maciborski was lightly wounded in action. Company strength is 3 officers and 100 EM.."

To start with, it was not down Sheeny (or even Cheney) but Grubbs Ravine that we went. Secondly, having half of one’s face blown off by a shot gun at close range does not, in my assessment, constitute being “lightly wounded”. Thirdly, I seriously doubt the Company strength count.

Bill Bailey, who was up in the rim with our battalion S-3, Laurence Browne, later wrote,

"It was down in this ravine where the Japs were holed up in a culvert under Bottomside road and proved so difficult to wrinkle out. Sgt. Mikel was killed here and I believe 3 more K.I.A.'s, before our flame throwers convinced the Nips to come out, one after the other, running full bore only to be met by converging fire from everyone."

The machine gun platoon was from the 3rd LMG. platoon, 2nd Bn HHqCo commanded by 2Lt Clifford MacKenzie. He had followed the 1st and 3rd squads of my platoon. When the line of advance hit the fire lane of the LMG., T-5 William Ashby, Company medic, went to the aid of Pfc Paul Narrow. He went down with gunshot wounds in both ankles. MacKenzie seeing this happen to his front, went to Ashby's aid and died.

Bill Calhoun
My Day With the Rattlesnakes

Pfc Paul Narrow was in the original 2nd Bn, 503d PIR, and was wounded serving with the 509th Parachute Battalion in North Africa. Most hoped for a wound just severe enough to get then sent home—a “homer.” The wound to his right arm was so severe that he had to fight a medical discharge and get back to action with us.

When the men had jumped in Africa, they did so in the belief that they were the 503d., but a decision had been made, and of which they were unaware until later, redesignating them. Some clearly felt they had their roots in the 503d, for they had trained as a part of the 503d, and that was where they felt at home. Anyway, Paul Narrow must have felt this way, and he fought not just to be returned to duty, but to duty with the 503d.

He even had to learn to fire his M-1 with his left hand. In the action in Grubbs Ravine (described in Mikel’s write-up) when the waiting Japanese opened up suddenly with rifle and Nambu machine gunfire, and a number of the 1st platoon went down as casualties, Paul exposed himself and returned fire, saving others. He died within 30-40 feet of me. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star Medal. He was a warrior.

Bill Calhoun