Ernest Loesser (bio)

Obituary #85

Mitchell Paisley clenched his fist and extended his trigger finger. His tongue was clamped between grinding teeth. He tasted blood that was not his own. He saw white clashed breaking all around him and sweat erupted from his forehead. Sergeant Mitchell Paisley was photographed holding a standard issue carbine rifle as the model for the GI Joe action figurine. He wore fresh green fatigues and the Medal of Honor for Heroism the Major General pinned on his chest a few weeks after the battle. Sergeant Paisley retired to a gated community in the suburbs of San Diego, and his lawn had automatic sprinklers. He was the son of Serbian immigrants born in a Western Pennsylvania mining town. The Japanese troops broke through the line and Sergeant Paisley continued firing until reinforcements arrived. He later led a bayonet charge and was promoted to Director of Accounts receivable at the law firm Gray & Venum in La Quinta, California. “It was an important hill you and your men held. That day they might have captured the airstrip,” said the Major General on a charcoaled beachhead in the South Pacific. Artillery had destroyed the foliage. Mitchell Paisley saw 33 men fall in the battle and he helped collect more than half of their dog tags. He is survived by 15 grandchildren.