Joseph Boyd

Early Life
Boyd was born in Longview, Texas on September 2nd, 1917 to Irene and Jack Boyd. Growing up in a farming family within a farming community, Boyd was working from an early age and had to put his education on the back-burner for most of his childhood. When he was 17, his family moved to Oklahoma City Oklahoma and he transferred to Oklahoma City High School, where he met Daysan Harm.

Boyd and Harm met in biology class and became immediate friends, bonding through their sense of national pride and patriotism. While Harm was the bookworm, Boyd was what some would call a meathead, he played football and was named a 1935 All-American finalist. After graduating high school, Boyd went to the University of Kansas to play football, and convinced his friend Harm to come with him. The two graduated with honors in 1940, and decided to remain at the school, Harm was going to business school and Boyd wanted to become a prosecutor.

Enlistment
The attacks on Pearl Harbor deeply shocked Boyd, and in January of 1942 enlisted in the United States Marine Corps alongside his friend Daysan. After a brief stent of boot camp, the men were shipped to fight against Japan. "'My kids liked to ask me, Dad, were you scared? And I loved to laugh and tell em' [sic] hell no! Daysan and I... we were stone cold killers, ready to take the fight to the Japs and get some payback for what those bastards did at Pearl.' Joseph Boyd's Personal Journal / March of 1960"Boyd fought across the Pacific during the war, from his first engagement at Guadalcanal to his last on Okinawa.

Battle of Okinawa
Boyd and Harm were part of the second wave of beach landings at Okinawa, and were sent to the eastern half of the island to help handle a Japanese counterattack. The two found themselves fighting on Kiyan Peninsula, which so happened to be the location of the largest loss of life during the entire battle. On a moonless night of June 1st, 1945 Boyd and Harm were sitting in a foxhole on the Peninsula when a Japanese banzai charge caught the Marines off guard and a firefight insured. At some point, a hand grenade was lobbed into Boyd and Harm's foxhole, Boyd grabbed the grenade and tossed it toward the Japanese attackers, and was shot twice in the process. It was deemed that his actions saved the lives of not only Harm, but many other Marines as well, Boyd was evacuated from the island the following afternoon and was awarded the Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for his actions. "'I didn't feel fear, or regret for what I did. It was either, throw that damn grenade back or let my brothers die in front of me... it was an easy choice to make.' Boyd during a radio interview with an Oklahoma City radio station / September 1945"