Alden Curtis Mattison
Private Alden C. Mattison served with Able Company, 2nd Raider Battalion (Carlson’s Raiders).
He was captured on Makin Island and executed at Kwajalein, Marshall Islands, on 16 October 1942.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number 337253
Current Status
Remains not recovered.
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
April 22, 1921
at Blair, WI
Parents
Edwin Theodore Mattison
Ida Belina (Thompson) Mattison
Education
Blair High School (1939)
Occupation & Employer
Farming
Service Life
Entered Service
December 16, 1941
at Portland, OR
Home Of Record
Blair, WI
Next Of Kin
Father, Mr. Edwin T. Mattison
Military Specialty
Raider
Campaigns Served
Makin Island Raid
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Prisoner of War Medal
Additional Service Details
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Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
Before dawn on 17 August 1942, two companies of the 2nd Raider Battalion disembarked from a pair of submarines, boarded rubber boats, and paddled ashore on Makin Island. The commando-style raid, plagued by confusion and unexpectedly stiff resistance by the Japanese garrison, led Lieutenant Colonel Evans Carlson to briefly contemplate surrender before ordering his men back to the submarines. Only a few reached safety that evening; many others were stranded on the beach for and uncomfortable night. The Raiders finally withdrew on 18 August, leaving eighteen confirmed KIA and twelve missing.
Private Alden Mattison, a rifleman with the First Platoon, Able Company was among those whose fate was not immediately known. He survived the first major scrap of the raid – a bloody fight over a machine-gun nest – and was able to muster a smile for a camera-wielding buddy on the afternoon of 17 August. None of the survivors could definitively say where he went after that, and Mattison was regretfully listed as missing in action. Like the other men so designated, he was officially declared dead on 18 August 1943.
In fact, nine Raiders survived and were captured by the garrison force. These men were shipped to Kwajalein atoll and the headquarters of the Japanese Sixth Base Unit. They were held in captivity for forty days, ostensibly awaiting suitable transport to Japan. Captain Yoshiro Obara testified that “our men [were] on good terms with these prisoners… giving their candies and cigarettes to them, and the prisoners [were] expecting to see Tokyo as soon as possible and talking about Japanese women.” This companionable picture was almost certainly false, as other prisoners who survived Kwajalein described atrocious and cruel conditions.
On 16 October 1942, the Raiders were led from their cells to a clearing in the coconut groves. One by one they were blindfolded, made to kneel on a mat, and beheaded. The slaughter lasted thirty minutes; historian Tripp Wiles notes that Obara himself reportedly took the first swing.
After the war, Obara and Abe were among those tried for war crimes. Obara received ten years imprisonment and served five; Abe, who insisted that his hands were tied by orders from others, was sentenced to death. He was hanged on Guam on 19 June 1947.
Burial Information or Disposition
The bodies were unceremoniously dumped in an unmarked mass grave somewhere on Kwajalein. The exact site has never been located.
Decorations
Purple Heart
For wounds resulting in his death at enemy hands, 16 October 1942
Prisoner Of War Medal
In captivity from 18 August 1942 – 16 October 1942
Next Of Kin Address
The Mattisons lived on a farm outside of Blair, Wisconsin.
Location Of Loss
The Raiders were imprisoned and executed on the island of Kwajalein.
