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Ingvard Thorvald Aasvik

Private Ingvard T. Aasvik served with George Company, Second Battalion, 5th Marines.
He was killed in action at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on 8 October 1942.

Created by potrace 1.16, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2019

Branch

Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 304819

Created by potrace 1.16, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2019

Current Status

Remains Not Recovered

Pursuit Category

The DPAA has not publicized this information.

History

Ingvard was born in the Norwegian port city of Drammen on 26 September 1921. His father, Thorvald Ingar Aasvik, died three years later, leaving Caroline Matilde (Pedersen) Aasvik with few options to support her family. Caroline packed her bags and her boys – Ingvard, age three, and Einar, age four – and set sail for America on the SS Stavengerfjord. They settled in Jersey City under the temporary care of Caroline’s sister-in-law, Karen Pedersen.

Passenger manifest of the Stavangerfjord.

Caroline eventually remarried to Edward George Olsen, a fellow Norwegian immigrant twelve years her senior; the boys were raised as Olsens until their late teens. Einar, the oldest, worked as a mail clerk before joining the Marine Corps in July of 1940. Ingvard, who had the considerably un-glamorous job of “mud ditch laborer,” also aspired to new horizons. Possibly influenced by Edward’s career as a dock builder, Ingvard tried his hand as a sailor on a merchant ship – but contracted malaria after his first voyage on the SS Marianne and was put ashore in New York City in February 1941. On 4 March, Ingvard followed his brother into the Corps. Interestingly, both enlisted and served under their Aasvik surname.

Ingvard trained at Parris Island, and was assigned to duty in Alexandria, Virginia. He had just attained the rate of Private First Class when Pearl Harbor was attacked, and had the misfortune to run afoul of rapidly tightening military discipline that month. For the crime of returning from liberty three hours late,  and then being caught asleep on watch, he lost his PFC stripe and was fined a whopping $90 to be deducted from his pay at the rate of $15 per month.

In the spring of 1942, Ingvard was transferred to Company G, 2nd Battalion, Fifth Marines (G/2/5). The abrupt transition from a guard company to a rifle unit was eased somewhat by being posted closer to his older brother. Sergeant Einar Aasvik, a quartermaster with the First Marine Division Headquarters, was also stationed at New River, North Carolina. Within a few months, the brothers departed for the West Coast, and were soon on their way to New Zealand and combat in the Solomon Islands. While Einar wrangled supplies, Ingvard splashed ashore at Tulagi and took part in one of the first American combat landings of the war. Forty-eight hours later, Tulagi was nominally secured and Private Aasvik was a genuine combat veteran.

Two weeks of patrolling and garrison duty followed before 2/5 shipped over to Guadalcanal. As the comparatively new arrivals – their sister battalions, 1/5 and 3/5, had landed on Guadalcanal on 7 August – the Second Battalion was employed in a defensive role, most notably at the battle of Edson’s Ridge in mid-September. There, they played a vital but little-remembered role reinforcing the Raiders and Paramarines, losing several of their own men killed and wounded. Nine days later, the battalion marched off into the boondocks to reinforce a patrol from 1/7 and wound up under the command of Lt. Colonel Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller for an attack across the Matanikau River. This devolved into a disaster as G/2/5 lost 25 men in an attempt to force their way across a sandbar at the river’s mouth. Ingvard must have wished he could swap places with Einar over at Division headquarters.

On 7 October 1942, the 5th Marines departed their bivouac and marched towards the Matanikau once again. The Second Battalion experienced a few minor contacts during the day, and took up positions near the riverbank that evening. Early the next morning, Easy and George Companies began moving south towards a crossing near the East-West Trail. Japanese troops knew the area well, and set up a strong series of defensive emplacements at a fork in the Matanikau. George Company was ordered to circle around these emplacements and wipe them out.

John Hersey, a combat correspondent attached to H/2/5th Marines for the operation, described the firefight in his book “Into The Valley.”

We could not see the enemy, either on our side of the river or the other. All this hatred was pouring out of jungle too thick to see more than twenty or thirty feet…. This invisibility was also unsettling. You might have thought that the jungle itself had grown malevolent and hated us. The trees were hurling little pellets at us; the vines were slinging great explosions.

Excerpt from the muster roll of G/2/5th Marines, October 1942.

Private Ingvard Aasvik was hit in the chest during the attack on the river fork, and died within moments. His body was left behind when George Company withdrew, and lay in the field overnight. The following day, 2/5 dropped heavy concentrations of bombs, mortars, and artillery fire on the delta junction. At 1030 on 9 October, they occupied the Japanese positions with no opposition. Aasvik’s body was found and buried in the vicinity, as witnessed by company commander Captain Tom Richmond.

After the war, search teams used a detailed map overlay to search for Aasvik’s burial site. They came up empty after several days of work; locals living along the river told of frequent floods, and the Graves Registration troops opined that Aasvik’s remains had washed away. His case was declared closed in 1949.

The Keyport Weekly, 6 September 1945.
Map overlay showing the location of Aasvik's burial. Post-war searches failed to find any trace of the grave; the area was prone to flooding, and any surviving markers were washed away.

Einar Aasvik survived the battle of Guadalcanal, but began to run into disciplinary trouble – multiple incidents involved alcohol, and it can only be wondered if grief over his brother’s death was the root cause. Eventually transferred out of the First Marine Division, he was stationed at a depot in Scotia, New York until, busted back down to private, he joined a replacement draft and ended the war in a quartermaster’s storeroom on Guam. Einar married and named his first son in honor of his late brother, but struggles with anger and alcohol plagued him for many years. He died in Albany, New York, in 1988.

Next Of Kin Address

Address of mother, Mrs. Caroline Olsen.

Location Of Loss

Aasvik was killed at a delta between the Matanikau River and Vara Creek.

Related Profiles

Marines of 2/5 non-recovered from the Third Matanikau action.
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