After basic training, Pope attended
Officer Candidate School and, on November 1, 1941, was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps
Reserve. He trained at
Quantico, Virginia, and New River, North Carolina, then went overseas in June 1942 with
1st Battalion, 1st Marines. On August 7, 1942, as the leader of a
machine gun platoon, he participated in the landing and action at
Guadalcanal. In 1943, he was transferred to
Melbourne, Australia, with his unit. Later, he again went into combat, as a company commander with the
1st Marine Regiment, in the
Cape Gloucester, New Britain campaign, from December 1943 to April 1944. In the mopping-up operations which followed, he led a 14-man patrol that in one day killed 20 and captured seven enemy soldiers during a trek over jungle trails. From September 12 to 30, 1944, he took part in action in the
Peleliu campaign during which he acted with "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty", and for which he would later be awarded the Medal of Honor and the
Purple Heart. Wounded in action on September 20, he returned to duty the next day, and remained overseas until November 1944. Pope was promoted to major in January 1945 and assigned for one year as a student in the
Japanese language course at
Yale University. On July 16, 1946, he was assigned an inactive duty status in the Marine Corps, and returned to his home and private employment in Massachusetts. There he became affiliated with the Marine Corps Reserve and commanded the 2nd Infantry Battalion, USMCR,
Hingham, Massachusetts, until August 1950, when he was called to active duty with his battalion upon the outbreak of the
Korean War. He served as executive officer of
3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines at
Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, until September 1951, when he was released to inactive duty and, shortly thereafter, resigned his commission in the Marine Corps.
Medal of Honor action On September 20, 1944, Captain Pope and his company set out to storm Hill 100, the steep and barren coral southern slope of a long ridge that the Japanese dubbed "East Mountain" as it sat to the east of the center of Bloodynose ridge. Initially, the Marines had the support of two M4 Sherman tanks, but on the approach to Hill 100 both of them slipped off of the sides of a narrow
causeway, immobilizing them. Miraculously, although this narrow causeway was a prime target for the Japanese, all of Captain Pope's men managed to run across it without sustaining any casualties. Heavy fire from adjacent ridges across Horseshoe Valley to the West and Southwest plagued the Marines at the base of the hill and continued to do so as they made their steady ascent. Upon reaching the peak of Hill 100 and sustaining over 60 casualties in the process, the Marines realized that their maps were wrong and that "hill" 100 was actually a very long and narrow ridge with high ground and Japanese positions several yards to their north. From almost
point-blank range, Japanese
mortars and field guns opened up on them from atop the ridge as well as from the adjacent peaks and hills in the surrounding area. Pope and his men took Hill 100 at dusk after hours of bloody fighting that nearly annihilated the group. Forced to deploy his men thinly, he nevertheless determined to hold his ground for the night. Immediately after darkness fell, the Japanese started to attack, first in small infiltrating bands, then in groups of 20 to 25. Each time, the Marines opened fire with everything they had: one light machine gun, several
Tommy guns and rifles, and a limited supply of
hand grenades. When the grenades ran low, they hurled rocks. "We would throw three or four rocks, then a grenade. The Japanese didn't know which were which," one Marine said. By sunrise, the Marines were beating off the enemy with bare fists and hurling ammunition boxes at them. Finally only eight riflemen remained. When daylight brought deadly Japanese artillery fire, Pope was ordered to withdraw and did so under the cover of smoke shells. For these actions, Pope was presented with the Medal of Honor by President
Harry Truman during a
White House ceremony on June 15, 1945, which included presentations to fellow Marine recipients
Luther Skaggs Jr. and
Carlton R. Rouh, as well as Army recipient
Gino J. Merli, for their heroism during actions in the
Central Pacific and
European theatres. It was Truman's first Medal of Honor presentation, and he told Pope that he would rather have the medal than be president. ==Later life==