A Country Worth Fighting For

"If this country is worth living in, it’s worth fighting for. There is no set pattern - no time when you can say you’ve done enough.” - Albert Ireland, USMC, WWII and Korean War veteran, 9-time Purple Heart recipient

Born in Cold Spring, New York, during the final months of WWI, Albert L. Ireland seemed destined for a life of hardship. Only eleven years old when the Great Depression began, he struggled through his childhood and adolescent years, and like many young Americans, dreamed of adventure and seeing the world.

By early 1941, with WWII raging and the US on the sidelines, Ireland took action. Restless and eager to fight, he decided to enlist in the Canadian Air Force. 

"I wanted to be a fighter pilot, but after a few times in the air they discovered my sinus condition,” he recalled in a NY Times article. "I was out in nine months." 

Cpl. Ireland before deploying to Korea. He had already been wounded five times in WWII. (PC: Argenta Images)

A Marine in the Pacific

With his flying days over, the young hard-charger returned home. But he wasn’t there for long. Just two weeks after hanging up his flight suit, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, killing more than 2,400 Americans and propelling the US into WWII.

Five days later, on December 12, 1941, Ireland did what hundreds of thousands of other men across America did after Pearl Harbor. He joined the military. “I enlisted in the Marines,” he said.

Ireland spent the next two years fighting the Japanese in the Pacific.

Marines destroy a Japanese bunker on Okinawa, 1945 (PC: USMC Archives)

During his terrifying experiences as a machine gunner in the jungles of Guadalcanal and mud-filled foxholes of Okinawa, he earned five Purple Hearts. Images of Marines getting mowed down by machine gun fire, blown apart by explosions, and killed by snipers would stay with him the rest of his life.

In 1945, he returned to the States and was discharged from the Marines with full disability. “I was sent to the hospital,” he remembers. “The doctors wanted to take out half my lung. I had a piece of shrapnel in it.”

But Ireland refused to have the operation and instead headed to Arizona where his lungs eventually improved. “I still have that piece of shrapnel in my lung,” he later told the NY Times.

Marines in action on Okinawa, 1945. (PC: USMC Archives)

The Korean War

Five years later with the outbreak of war in Korea, Ireland, still a member of the Marine Corps Reserve, headed to the nearest recruiting station. He wanted to fight the communists.

Once back in uniform, however, he was told that the Commandant of the Marine Corps would have to approve his orders for Korea. “I hitchhiked all the way to Washington, DC to get an OK,” he remembered.

His perseverance eventually paid off and by 1951, Ireland was on his way to the Korean peninsula. 

During his time as a squad leader with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, Sgt. Ireland was wounded four times and received four additional Purple Hearts. He was also awarded two Bronze Stars with Combat “V” for "exceptional courage, initiative, and professional skill in the performance of his duties.”

A memorial service for fallen Marines in Korea, 1951 (PC: USMC Archives)

In one firefight, Ireland attacked a group of North Korean soldiers who had ambushed his patrol. Ordering his men to take cover, the 33-year-old Sergeant "fearlessly crawled toward the hostile troops, and with grenades and rifle fire, single-handedly killed several of the enemy and forced the remainder to withdraw.”

In 1953, the seemingly indomitable Marine who had served his country in two wars and was wounded a record nine times, returned home and was honorably discharged from the military.

Postscript

After leaving the Marines, Ireland graduated from college and became a physical education teacher and coach. He taught for more than two decades at Bay Ridge High School in Brooklyn and the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan, where he was loved and respected by his students and is still remembered today. 

"Mr. Ireland was a great friend to all the students," said a graduate of the High School of Art and Design on an alumni Facebook page. 

Friends in his hometown of Cold Spring, NY, remember the “thin, scrappy veteran,” called “Al” by his buddies, as a dedicated teacher, loyal friend, and pillar of the community.

A life-long member of the Cold Spring Fire Department and driving force behind the founding of the Putnam County Marine Corps League, Ireland, who never married, was the kind of guy who was "always around to lend a helping hand."

“He loved his Marine Corps and he loved his country,” a Cold Spring resident fondly recalled.

Al Ireland died on November 16, 1997, at the age of 79. He is the only Marine to receive a record nine Purple Hearts.

The Purple Heart is awarded to US service members who are wounded or killed as a result of enemy action. More than 1.8 million Purple Heart medals have been presented to service members since the award's inception in 1782.