Arthur Branson Summers

Arthur Summers arrived in the world on 30 June 1916. He was born and raised in Poplar, a small city on the Fort Peck Reservation in northeastern Montana. Poplar boasted just over a thousand inhabitants, and by 1930 counted a significant number of Summerses on the census records. The paterfamilias Author Summers (as he spelled it; on many original records, his name appears as “Arthur”) was the town’s veterinarian; Louise Schmitz Summers kept house and tended to the needs of her six children.

Arthur finished grammar school, graduated from high school, and went to work as a farmer. His father doubtless taught him how to care for animals – and may have instilled other interests, as well. The elder Summers was a Great War veteran, with over two years of service as a lieutenant in the veterinary corps. Young Arthur evidently enjoyed the idea of a military career, and on 12 November 1936 he enlisted in the regular Marine Corps for a term of four years.

Summers entered the service from Seattle, Washington, and within two months was aboard the USS Henderson bound for Chinwangtao (Qinhuangdao), China. He would spend the first three years of his hitch in China, mostly with the embassy guards in Beijing (then called Peiping). Even in these early days, he showed a marked proficiency with all types of weapons – an expert with a rifle and bayonet, a sharpshooter with a BAR, and handy with pistols and grenades. Each qualification earned him a new silver bar; they climbed like a ladder up the chest of his dress uniform.

Summers enjoyed the Corps as well, and even before his first enlistment ran out made arrangements to extend. His rise through the ranks began in May of 1939 with a promotion to private first class; corporal’s stripes followed in February of 1940. Later that year, he rotated back to the United States to serve as a guard at the Mare Island Naval Prison and added the third stripe of a sergeant. Soon, he was under consideration for the rank of platoon sergeant. “Summers is neat in appearance, of soldierly bearing, an excellent leader of men,” wrote his commanding officer in 1941, “and possesses all the professional qualifications of the rank for which he is recommended.” In February of 1942, another officer opined that “Sergeant Summers… has clearly demonstrated his efficiency in handling men. He is an excellent instructor… with the bayonet in particular. Sergeant Summers is neat in appearance and has an excellent military bearing. He has committed no offenses to date and has an average marking of 4.9 [out of 5, for proficiency].” Finally, the promotion was approved and Arthur Summers became a platoon sergeant at the age of twenty-five.

Despite the new rank, and the country in a state of war, Summers remained stationed in California. H served as the NCO in charge of the Marine Detachment at the parachute training center at Santee (later known as Camp Gillespie), although he was not a Paramarine himself. In the fall of 1942, he was considered for further promotion to the rank of First Sergeant, but Summers balked at this notion and requested to be removed from the list of candidates. “I do not feel that I am adaptable to for this duty,” he admitted, “and would prefer to be considered for promotion to the rank of gunnery sergeant.” The request was granted, but because there were fewer open billets for “Gunnys,” Summers remained a platoon sergeant.

In June of 1943, Summers departed from San Diego aboard the USS Rochambeau and crossed the Pacific with the 18th Replacement Battalion. He arrived in New Zealand on 17 July and was assigned to duty with Item Company, Third Battalion, 6th Marines. Finally, on 7 October 1943, Summers became a company gunnery sergeant.

Three weeks later, Gunny Summers and Item Company boarded the USS Harris at Wellington, New Zealand, and sailed for the Gilbert Islands.

Arthur Summers had dedicated seven of his twenty-seven years to the Corps; his combat career spanned just about twenty-four hours.

The 6th Marines were designated as the 2nd Marine Division’s reserve for the battle of Tarawa and did not receive orders to land until late on 21 November 1943. While the First Battalion paddled ashore in rubber boats, the Third Battalion (which included Gunny Summers and Item Company) waited aboard their own landing craft for orders to proceed. Unfortunately, their guide vehicles – a pair of amphibious tractors – were destroyed by mines during the BLT 1-6 landing, and instead of risking additional casualties in the darkness, BLT 3-6 waited for daylight. They were ordered to land on the northern end of Green Beach, and waded ashore at low tide. According to battalion commander LtCol. Kenneth F. McLeod, the bulk of BLT 3-6 was ashore by 1400 hours on 22 November.

McLeod’s Marines advanced to the west, following the trail of destruction left by BLT 1-6. At 1900 hours, they arrived in an assembly area just behind the front lines. A sudden increase in firing indicated a Japanese counterattack; it broke on the defenses of Able and Baker Companies, but McLeod detached Item Company to take up a secondary defensive line about 75 yards behind BLT 1-6. While his company was not the most heavily involved in fighting off the subsequent banzai charges, Gunny Summers certainly participated in this action – and very possibly died here, as well.

On the morning of 23 November, BLT 3-6 took over the advance and pushed the surviving Japanese troops back to the tip of Betio’s eastern tail, suffering another handful of casualties. These were among the last of the battle; the easternmost known burials of American troops were almost all members of the 6th who died in this final advance. McLeod commented that Item Company faced off against a particularly determined defensive position, but eventually wiped out the opposing forces.

At some point during the day, Gunny Summers was shot in the head and chest. He was buried in a mass grave alongside some thirty other Marines, almost all of whom fell during the night fighting of 22-23 November. According to original burial reports, his grave was “#21, Grave D, East Division Cemetery,” or “Gilbert Island Cemetery.”

In a tragic twist of irony, Summers’ enlistment was due to expire on 23 November 1943.

The mass grave was later destroyed or built over, rendering the remains of all buried there non-recoverable. Arthur Summers had a memorial grave marked with his name in Cemetery 33, Plot 14, Row 3, Grave 11, but this bore no relation to where his body actually lay.

The “Row D” burial site went undiscovered until the spring of 2019, when an archaeological expedition led by non-profit organization History Flight excavated the site and recovered human remains.

Arthur Summers was identified from the History Flight recovery and officially accounted for on 17 October 2019.

CENOTAPHS
Honolulu Memorial, Tablets of the Missing

FINAL BURIAL
Evergreen Memorial Park, East Wenatchee, Washington