William “Bill” Jennings Middlebrook was born on April 21, 1922, the son of John Enoch Middlebrook (1885-1959) and Edith Hennie Howie (1891-1969). 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. There, William attended Marianna high school and upon graduation became a local reporter. After a year, he moved to Pensacola and joined the News Journal staff in 1941. Nicknamed “Scoop,” he was given a sports column until June 1942 when he enlisted in the US Marines.
Scoop was assigned to Company “F”, 2nd Battalion of the 21st Marine Regiment. His first battle was Bougainville on November 1, 1943 where he served as a scout deep in the jungle. During one mission, Scoop was shot by a Japanese sniper. Upon recovery, he returned to his unit on Guadalcanal, now serving as a "staging area," pending their next campaign.
The 3rd Division's next campaign was the island of Guam where they landed on July 21, 1944. Under horrific fire, they hit the beach and headed for the town of Agana. When able, he wrote numerous descriptive letters home about his exploits. In one letter he wrote that he was lying down with two Marines on one side of him and two more on the other when mortar rounds struck, killing all four of his buddies. Another letter said that the Japanese were careless. They talked loudly making it easy to locate their position. One time an enemy solider stuck his head up out of the grass across the road from him and called 'Hello American, "but I shot him anyway." On another occasion, eleven Japanese soldiers attacked a Marine machine gun emplacement. The officer swung a two-handed sword and decapitated one of the Marines before they killed them. But he said the enemy snipers were good. One of them killed seven Marines in their unit from 500 yards. Before long, Scoop received mortar shell fragments in the shoulder and hip forcing his evacuation to a field hospital for two months.
Their next campaign was the volcanic island of Iwo Jima. But during the interval he received a promotion to corporal as a combat correspondent. This was the coveted promotion he wanted so badly! To fight and report was his dream. But now his division was landing on Iwo Jima, never realizing what horrors lay ahead of them. Scoop's regiment landed on February 19, 1945 and as the fighting intensified, the troops began to run out of ammunition. Scoop volunteered to run the gauntlet, so he wrapped machine gun belts and bandoleers around his shoulders and took off dodging shell holes and dead Marines. He delivered the ammo and went back for more, zigzagging over the broken terrain. Halfway back, there was a shot and Scoop fell from a Japanese sniper round. Within minutes it was no use, Scoop Middlebrook of the Pensacola News Journal was dead. His luck had run out on February 24, 1945! By coincidence, a photo of Middlebrook wearing a Purple Heart arrived at the News Journal at the same time as the news of his death. His mother Edith received her third telegram from the War Department and this time her son was dead! On November 4, 1948, the paper announced that Scoop's body was arriving in Pensacola for burial at Barrancas Cemetery. The war hero was buried with full military honors he so richly deserved!
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