The Patriot Post® · Profiles of Valor: LtCol Harold 'Injun Joe' Bauer (USMC)
Harold Bauer was born in Woodruff, Kansas, and grew up in North Platte, Nebraska, the son of German immigrants John and Anna. John was a railroad station agent, and the family often lived above the station manager’s office. Harold, second born, had two brothers and two sisters. As a youngster, he excelled academically and on the field, competing in football, track, and baseball. He graduated from Alma High School after accumulating 29 A’s and three B’s.
He and his brothers were instilled with the values of hard work and the importance of education, and the three Bauer boys all received appointments to the United States Naval Academy. Harold also excelled in sports at USNA, and was nicknamed “Injun Joe” by his friends as a compliment for his habit of yelping when engaging “the enemy” and his physical stature and features. That name would stick in the years that followed, when most would call him “Joe.”
He graduated from the USNA in June 1930 and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps. After completing Officers Basic School at Quantico, Virginia, he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines as a company officer at Quantico.
While there, he met and married Harriette Hemman. His sister Erma recalled that the two “were always the best dancers and at the center of all the social fun — an All-American combination of star athlete and beauty queen.”
In 1932, Bauer became Assistant Range Officer at Naval Base San Diego, and then Executive Officer of the Marine Detachment aboard the heavy cruiser San Francisco. In May 1934, he was promoted to First Lieutenant and sent to Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida for flight training, earning his Wings of Gold in February 1936.
Promoted to Captain in 1937, Bauer then served with several squadrons at Quantico before returning to Naval Air Station San Diego in June 1940. He served as executive officer of VMF-221 and participated in carrier group exercises on the USS Lexington (CV-2) and USS Saratoga (CV-3) in his Grumman F4F Wildcat. After the 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, he prepared to leave his wife and son Billy, departing on the USS Saratoga for Midway.
As with many being deployed to the Pacific, concerned that he would not return, he penned a letter to Harriette while in transit to Midway:
I don’t think there is much doubt that you and Billy will soon be on your own. Please don’t take it too hard. Buckle down and face it as inevitable. … Raise Billy to be a man and not a Mama’s boy. Make him earn money as soon as he is physically capable. That is very important! Vmail will be blacked out until the end of the Jap-US war. I haven’t opened your Christmas Gift, but will do so when the time comes. Only wish I could be home to enjoy Billy’s expressions. God Bless his little heart. I am glad he inherited your good features and not my bad ones. Take care of the insurance, and it will take care of you. If you need legal advice in settling your affairs don’t hesitate to get it.
He continued:
You have been the most wonderful little wife any man could ask for, and have been forced to put up with a very disagreeable husband. Please forgive all of this as I really love you and Billy with all my heart. … Pass the word on to Mama and Dad how much I have loved them and how I hope they can iron out their difficulties and spend the rest of their lives in complete happiness. Please keep in close touch with them because they want to watch Billy grow and follow his career. Notify Dale, Jean, Lucile, Tommy, Erma, John, and Peggy that I was thinking of them until the last. War is a hell of a thing to face, but as long as we must face it, we certainly want to do our share. We have but one life to give to our Country and loved ones, etc. … I only wish I could go to my grave knowing I had lived a more generous and serviceable life. God bless you all.
Bauer served on Midway as commander of Fighter Squadron VMF-211 until 1942 and then returned to Hawaii and took command of VMF-212. Promoted to Major, he and the 212th then went to Efate Island, where in just three months he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. According to a Marine Corps historical bulletin, it was there that he earned another nickname, “Coach,” reflecting his “inspirational leadership style, aggressive air combat philosophy, and the fact that he was 10 years senior to the squadron’s other pilots.”
On 28 September 1942, Bauer achieved the first of several actions cited in his Medal of Honor nomination, shooting down a Japanese bomber. On 3 October, though badly outnumbered by enemy aircraft, “Injun Joe” took to the air again and shot down four enemy fighter planes, disabling another.
On 16 October, he led a reinforcement flight of 26 aircraft 600 miles across open water to defend Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. When lining up to land at Henderson, he saw a squadron of Japanese bombers attacking the USS McFarland offshore. With little fuel left, he diverted to defend the McFarland, shooting down four more Japanese planes before being forced to return to Henderson on fuel fumes.
In the days that followed, Bauer was named Commander of Guadalcanal’s air defenses. His squadron was credited with downing 92 Japanese planes, Bauer with 11 of those, and assisting in the sinking of two Japanese destroyers.
On 12 November, the Japanese began a final attempt to retake Guadalcanal. Two days later, Bauer and two other pilots were attacking an approaching Japanese transport ship, and he shot down another enemy aircraft. But Bauer’s Wildcat took hits and had to ditch in the sea. His squadron pilots saw him on the surface, and they returned to Henderson Field to get a search-and-rescue plane capable of landing on water.
Legendary Marine aviator and Medal of Honor recipient Joe Foss offered this eyewitness account of “Injun Joe’s” actions that day:
On November 14, 1942, we had heavy enemy action up the line from Guadalcanal. All day we bombed, torpedoed, and strafed their ships by air. Late in the afternoon we had several of their troop transports dead in the water. About four o'clock I received orders to take my flight and escort the dive bombers to that area, and if enemy air activity permitted I was to strafe the transports. Just before I took off, Colonel Joe told me that he was going along and see just how my boys worked. He said I wasn’t going to get all the fun alone, so we all took off. Upon arriving there, we found several troop transports dead in the water and smoking. Some warships were cruising among them to pick up survivors and ward off air attacks. Tom Furlow and I followed the colonel and circled high above. The three of us circled for some time and watched our planes attack and start to leave. All the surrounding air seemed clear from enemy air activity. So we came down and strafed the ships below. We came right out on the water and headed for home.
Foss continued:
All of a sudden, tracers shot over my head. Upon looking back, I saw two Jap Zeros diving on us, shooting. At once, Joe turned and headed straight for one. Both he and the Jap were shooting everything. Then — Bang! And the Zero blew up, and Joe zoomed and made a turn for home. Tom and I chased the other Zero toward Tokyo but couldn’t catch him. Upon returning to the scene of Joe’s action (twelve or fifteen miles due north of the Russell Islands), I was unable to spot him. I saw an oil slick about a mile south of the spot where the Zero had gone in, and upon circling it saw Joe swimming with his life vest on. I went right down to within a few feet of him, and he waved both arms and jumped up out of the water. Then he waved me toward home. He was in good shape — no visible cuts. I tried to give him my life raft, but it wouldn’t come out, so I gave full throttle toward home. I landed and took off at once in a Duck (a Grumman J2F amphibian bi-plane) with Major Joe Renner. We were within ten miles of Joe and it got pitch black, so we had to return home. At daybreak the next morning (Nov. 15) we were on the site of the colonel’s landing with my flight of eight and the Duck. The only thing in sight were two Jap planes, which we shot down at once. We searched and searched the area but no sign of a soul. … So in my way of thinking, one of the following two things happened — either the Japs happened upon him and took him prisoner or the sharks got him. If the Japs have him, he is safe, in my mind, as he wore his lieutenant colonel’s silver oak leaves.
Foss concluded: “To me, Marine Corps’ Aviation greatest loss in this war is that of Joe. He really had a way all his own of getting a tough job done efficiently and speedily, and was admired by all, from the lowest private to the highest general. I am certain that wherever Joe is today, he is doing things the best way — the Bauer way.”
Bauer’s posthumous Medal of Honor citation notes his multiple actions:
For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous courage as Squadron Commander of Marine Fighting Squadron 212 in the South Pacific area during the period from 10 May to 14 November 1942. Volunteering to pilot a fighter plane in defense of our positions on Guadalcanal, Lt. Col. Bauer participated in two air battles against enemy bombers and fighters outnumbering our force more than two to one, boldly engaged the enemy, and destroyed one Japanese bomber in the engagement of 28 September, and shot down four enemy fighter planes in flames on 3 October, leaving a fifth smoking badly. After successfully leading 26 planes on an over-water ferry flight of more than 600 miles on 16 October, Lt. Col. Bauer, while circling to land, sighted a squadron of enemy planes attacking the U.S.S. McFarland. Undaunted by the formidable opposition and with valor above and beyond the call of duty, he engaged the entire squadron and, although alone and his fuel supply nearly exhausted, fought his plane so brilliantly that four of the Japanese planes were destroyed before he was forced down by lack of fuel.
His citation concludes: “His intrepid fighting spirit and distinctive ability as a leader and an airman, exemplified in his splendid record of combat achievement, were vital factors in the successful operations in the South Pacific area.”
LtCol Harold “Injun Joe” Bauer: An ordinary man faced with extraordinary circumstances, he summoned the greatest measure of courage to place his life in imminent peril to save others. Your example of valor — a humble American Patriot defending Liberty for all above and beyond the call of duty — is eternal. Live your life worthy of his sacrifice.
“Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of American Liberty, and for our nation’s Veterans, First Responders, and their families.
(Read more Profiles of Valor here.)
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776
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