Harlan Glenn “Harley” Roe

Harlan G. “Harley” Roe was a fresh 20 year old Marine when he landed on Peleliu, September 15th 1944, having a birthday only two days prior.

His unit, 2/7, was initially held in reserve for the landings but upon the reports of 1/7 and 3/7’s mounting casualty numbers, 2/7 was sent in to land on the evening of D-Day. Harlan, already having survived Cape Gloucester as a Machine Gunner, was promoted to Private First Class and made a Scout Observer(636) in 2/7’s Headquarters company.

On September 23, 1944, a patrol under Second Lieutenant Richard F. Spindler, Headquarters and Service Company, Seventh Marines was organized to clear ravines and ridges of Japanese snipers, active in rear areas at the beginning of the hilly section just north of the airfield know as “The Five Sisters”. While employing flamethrower and demolitions at the entrance to a cave, the party received heavy machine gun fire from concealed installations, wounding four men. PFC Roe, assisted in removing the four wounded under continuous fire.

The next day, September 24, 1944 Roe acted as a guide for an anti-sniper patrol of the United States Army in the same area. Three men were wounded and rapid succession near one exposed spot along a trail where numerous casualties had occurred over a period of days, an area known as “Dead Man’s Curve”.

Knowing that the enemy fire at that spot was extremely accurate PFC Roe, as other members of the party sought cover, nevertheless, single-handedly made three trips to that spot in order to remove the three wounded from the line of fire. He completed his hazardous mission successfully carrying all three to protected places where they were given first aid. While acting as a stretcher bear in further evacuating, one of the injured men PFC Roe was himself wounded.

Harley had been shot in the arm which fractured his left Ulnar, weakening and numbing some of the fingers in his hand.  After the war, he settled in Copley, built several houses, worked as a machinist at Goodyear Aerospace and graduated from Kent State University with a bachelor's of science in education. Harley eventually married in 1975 and passed in 2008 leaving his wife, 2 sons, and 4 step-children.