Albert Otto Goettler
PFC Albert Otto Goettler served with Baker Company, First Battalion, 6th Marines.
He was reported missing in action at Saipan on 14 June 1944.
Branch
Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 834414
Current Status
Remains not recovered
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
February 19, 1924
in Chicago, IL
Parents
Otto Lee Goettler
May (Maschner) Goettler
Education
Details unknown
Occupation & Employer
Columbia Mills
Service Life
Entered Service
March 4, 1943
at Chicago, IL
Home Of Record
12142 Parnell Avenue
Chicago, IL
Next Of Kin
Parents, Otto & May Goettler
Military Specialty
Ammunition carrier
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
Albert Goettler served with Baker Company, First Battalion, Sixth Marines in the battle of Tarawa, and in the preparation for “Operation Forager” – the invasion of Saipan in the Mariana Islands. He carried ammunition for a crew-served weapon, either a light machine gun or 60mm mortar.
Goettler was reported as missing in action within the first 24 hours of the Saipan landings. Officially, his date of loss is given as 14 June 1944 – the day before his regiment landed on the island. Muster rolls for his company, however, indicate he was last seen on 15 June as the First Battalion made its way ashore under heavy fire. No specifics regarding his loss are known; Goettler was reported as missing in action and carried as such until evidence of his death was received in May 1945.
Burial Information or Disposition
None; identifiable remains not recovered. Goettler was declared dead in May 1945, with his official date of loss fixed at 14 June 1944.
In 1948, Graves Registration personnel working in the 2nd Marine Division cemetery on Saipan exhumed unidentified remains buried in Plot D, Row 7, Grave 13. These were determined to be Harland H. Tonnell (I/3/2nd Marines, KIA 7/2/1944), who was supposedly buried in Grave #8. Discovering this discrepancy caused a ripple effect of reconciling the names on grave markers with the bodies buried below. Through process of elimination, the remains buried in Grave 4 as George Cohn (2nd Tank Battalion, KIA 7/2/1944) were deemed unidentifiable and designated “X-23.”
While Tonnell and Cohn were returned to their families for burial, “X-23” was sent to a laboratory in Manila. In 1950, anthropologists working to identify unknown remains recovered from Saipan suggested that X-23 might be PFC Goettler, noting similarities in age, height, weight, and hair color. Goettler had a distinctive filling in one tooth, but examination revealed that the matching tooth in X-23 had been extracted before his death, and the identification was disapproved.
Memorials
Next Of Kin Address
Address of parents, Otto & May Goettler.
Location Of Loss
PFC Goettler was last seen alive on or near the island of Saipan.
