William “Bill” J. Middlebrooks was born on April 21, 1922, the son of John Enoch Middlebrooks and Edith Howie. His father supported his family as a teacher in Daphne, Alabama until he and Edith divorced. Edith moved to Marianna, Florida where she became a supervisor with the Farm Security Agency. Here, William attended Marianna high school and upon graduation he became a reporter for the Jackson County Floridian newspaper. After a year, he moved to Escambia County and joined the Pensacola News Journal staff in 1941. Nicknamed “Scoop,” he was given a sports column until June 1942 when he enlisted in the US Marines. He was the fifth member of the Pensacola News Journal to join the armed forces by June 1942. The others were Robert Key, Harold M. Turner, Lindsey Lawlor, and Ellen Creamer who was awaiting her Navy air corps acceptance.
His first combat assignment was with Cary Carlson Ward Sr. from the Pensacola High Class of 1943. Ward was a Navy corpsman with the Marines attached to a Pack Howitzer battery with the 12th Marines. Scoop was attached to Company “F”, 2nd Battalion of the 21st Marine Regiment as well. Together, they landed on Bougainville in November 1943 and whereas Ward’s battery stayed close to the beachhead, Scoop went inland with the scouts seeking out the enemy. Based on their missions, information was fed back to headquarters as to enemy troop location, strength and topographical obstacles. During one such scouting mission he and his platoon was moving forward when Scoop was shot by a Japanese sniper. As his comrades fired on the sniper's location, another Marine pulled him out of harm's way and evacuated him back to Ward’s aide station for medical attention. Ward determined that the wound was not life threatening and patched him up.
Upon recovery, he returned to his unit with his first future Purple Heart coming his way. His mother was notified, but assured he was okay and able to return to duty. In the meantime, Ward and Middlebrooks with the 3rd Division boarded their transports after the battle and returned to Guadalcanal that was now serving as a "staging area," pending the next campaign.
William "Bill" J. Middlebrooks
USMC, Company "F", 2nd Battalion,
21st Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine
Division, Bougainville
Pensacola News Journal 6-8-1942
Pensacola News Journal 3-11-1945
