Block was inducted into the regular Marine Corps through the Selective Service System at San Antonio on 18 February 1943 and transferred to the Recruit Depot at San Diego. Upon completion of recruit training, he was assigned to the Parachute training School at San Diego on 14 April, where he completed the course in six weeks. He qualified as a parachutist on 22 May and was promoted to private first class the same day. Block was assigned to the Parachute Replacement Battalion at the same camp.

Arriving at New Caledonia on 15 November 1943, Private First Class Block joined Headquarters and Service Company of the 1st Marine Parachute Regiment, I Marine Amphibious Corps. He saw combat as a rifleman during the latter part of the Bougainville campaign when he landed on that island on 21 December.

On 14 February 1944, he arrived at San Diego with his unit and the parachutists were disbanded on the 29th of that month. Block joined Company E, 2d Battalion, 28th Marines, 5th Marine Division at Camp Pendleton on 1 March. He was promoted to the rank of corporal on 27 October 1944. After training at Camp Pendleton and Hawaii, Block landed on Iwo Jima on 19 February 1945.

When his mother Belle saw the Flag Raising Photo in the Weslaco Newspaper on Feb. 25, she exclaimed, "That's Harlon" pointing to the figure on the far right. But the US Government mis-identified the figure as Harry Hansen of Boston. Belle never wavered in her belief that it was Harlon insisting, "I know my boy." No one--not her family, neighbors, the Government or the public--had any reason to believe her. But eighteen months later in a sensational front-page story, a Congressional investigation revealed that it was Harlon in the photo, proving that indeed, Belle did "know her boy."

Following the securing of Mount Suribachi on 23 February, Corporal Block moved northward with his company. On 1 March, he was killed as the 28th Marines were attacking toward Nishi Ridge. The Marine's body was buried in the 5th Marine Division Cemetery on Iwo Jima in Plot 4, Row 6, Grave 912 and was later returned to the United States for private burial. Harlon Block is buried beside the Iwo Jima Monument in Harlingen, Texas.

Corporal Block was awarded the following decorations and awards:

Purple Heart (awarded posthumously);
Presidential Unit Citation with one star (for Iwo Jima);
American Campaign Medal;
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two stars (for the Consolidation of the Northern Solomons and Iwo Jima),and ;
The World War II Victory Medal

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