We're loyal Americans, Number One. Most of them are dependable. You can depend on them for anything. I think there's a feeling of unity in the society that no other group in the country has because you know that people expect a lot of things from you, and you'll make a concerted effort to abide by that, and honor it. And I always mention that this doesn't belong to me. It belongs to thirty-three other guys, too. And then I can tell the story about that. I don't know how else to tell it because, after all, they were there and fought with me, but they didn't get anything but Purple Hearts. And half of them died. The last thing I ever thought about was a medal.
Colonel Mitchell Paige (Mihajlo Pejić) (August 31, 1918 – November 15, 2003) was a United States Marine Corps colonel who received the nation's highest military decoration for valor in combat, the Medal of Honor, during World War II. On October 26, 1942, after thirty-three Marines in his machine gun platoon were killed or wounded defending a ridge during the Battle of Guadalcanal, Platoon Sergeant Paige operated four machine guns, singlehandedly stopping an entire Japanese regiment. He also led a bayonet charge afterwards.
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Beyond Glory (2003) interview
Conoley and his men helped write my citation, apparently. But none of them could join our defense. When the Japanese overran me, there were just so many of them, and it was pitch-dark. Actually, I would literally, absolutely, positively run into them, and they didn't know whether I was Japanese or anybody else. They were just hollering, 'Banzai! Banzai! Banzai!' And all that, and the screaming and hollering and flashes were all over the place, because mortars were landing all around us. That was Captain Lou Ditta; he was firing his mortars right in front of my position. I started with a pistol but that didn't last very long. In the pitch dark you see flashes, just a second, and you can see this thing happening, you can see it's a man there. These Japanese ran their bayonets through one of our guys, and literally picked him up and threw him over their heads.
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I tell you the screaming and hollering you couldnt describe, no way in the world could I describe the sound. You know, a lot of the Japanese could speak English, and, when their assault on us began, this guy started screaming, 'Blood for the Emperor! Blood for the Emperor!' And Stansberry, he was throwing hand grenades and yelling back, 'Blood for Eleanor! Blood for Eleanor!' Bad as it was, I couldn't help but laugh. He and I were just like brothers.