John Bland was honorably discharged in 1944 after being injured in combat in the South Pacific. Yet for the rest of his life as a civilian, he thought of himself as a Marine.
For decades he was a dedicated member of the Marine Corps League and the Association of Marine Corps Lawyers. A fellow Marine, Frank Bernat of Covington, said Bland wore the League’s official red blazer with pride. His daughter, Lauren Jones of Newnan, said Bland always carried himself like a Marine and cherished the Corps’ values of honor and integrity.
Bland enlisted in 1942 at age 17 and trained with the 4th Marine Division. In February 1944 he took part in the capture of the adjoining islands of Roi and Namur in the Marshall Islands. Four months later he was one of the 71,000 U.S. forces who stormed the major Japanese stronghold of Saipan, the largest island in the northern Marianas.
It was a fierce, give-no-quarter battle that lasted three weeks. Most of the 25,000 Japanese troops stationed on Saipan were killed. American casualties were also high — 2,949 killed and 10,464 wounded, including Pfc. Bland.
Bland landed on Saipan the first day of the invasion and suffered a likely concussion that day when a Japanese artillery shell exploded near him, throwing him into a trench. He recovered enough that he could stay with his unit, but six days later a Japanese booby trap blew up close to him, knocking him out of the war. The next thing he knew he was on a hospital ship bound for Hawaii, then California, where he was treated the following three months for a serious concussion.
John Wooten Bland Jr., 88, of Conyers died of heart failure Dec. 13 at UniPac Post-Acute Care in Greenville, Ga. His memorial service is 2 p.m. Feb. 15, at the McKoon Funeral Home in Newnan.
Bland, a native Georgian, attended the University of Georgia and the Woodrow Wilson School of Law in Atlanta after the war, preparing himself for a five-decade legal career.
A fellow attorney and Marine, Robert Wilson of Watkinsville, said Bland was an exceptional trial lawyer — effective and trustworthy.
“Much of his practice was done in DeKalb County courts and was concerned with bill collecting — from both sides of the dispute,” Wilson said. “John represented businesses such as Trust Company Bank (now SunTrust) but also people in debt. John had compassion for those who were down on their luck and tried his best to help them.”
Bland did not handle divorce cases, nor did he represent anyone whom he believed was guilty of a felony, his daughter said.
Wilson said he always appreciated the helpful mentoring that he, a Korean War veteran, received years ago from a World War II comrade-in-arms, Bland.
Another fellow Marine, Newton County Magistrate Court Judge John Degonia of Covington, called Bland a straight-shooter but not a man to be crossed.
“Once an overly litigious lawyer told me he was going to stop pestering John because he thought John might take a poke at him,” Degonia said. “John could be a scrappy little scamp, and I do believe he just might have done that.”
His wife of 55 years, Joyce Bland, died in 2004. Surviving besides his daughter are a grandson and three great-grandchildren.
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