Albert LeRoy Bernes

Albert Bernes was born in Greensburg, Indiana on 3 July 1924. He was the oldest son of William and Anna Opal (Roeder) Bernes; a younger brother, was born in 1928. The Bernes divorced shortly after Robert’s birth, and Opal took her boys back to her family in Linton, Indiana.

Albert and Robert grew up in Linton, where Albert attended Linton-Stockton High School. He was partway through his junior year when Pearl Harbor was attacked, and decided to leave school in order to enlist.

Seventeen-year-old Albert joined the Marine Corps on 29 January 1942. From the recruiting station at Indianapolis, he was sent to San Diego for boot camp, and was selected for communication school. He got in trouble only once, for borrowing a buddy’s ID card and trying to buy alcohol. Bernes was restricted to base for the rest of his training, and ultimately qualified as a telephone lineman and switchboard operator.

In the spring of 1942, Bernes joined the 22nd Marines and shipped out to Samoa. Not long after arriving, on 10 July 1942, he transferred to Headquarters and Service Company, 7th Marines. Many young men eager to fight requested transfers to regiments heading for Guadalcanal, and this may have been Albert’s rationale too.

After training in Samoa with the 7th Marines, Bernes sailed for the Solomon Islands as a member of D/1/7. He arrived on Guadalcanal in September 1942 and experienced his first combat a few days later.

On 9 October 1942, Private Bernes’ battalion was operating east of the Matanikau River in support of 2/7th Marines. They wound up heavily engaged along a ridge while moving north towards the ocean. In the ensuing firefight, Private Bernes was killed in action.

The battalion called in heavy concentrations of mortar fire and drove off their adversaries. Before continuing to the beach for evacuation, they buried three Marines in the field: Bernes, PFC Francis E. Drake, Jr. (C/1/7), and PFC Harry C. Morrissey (B/1/7). Bernes himself was noted in  “Map 104, Lunga Area, north coast Guadalcanal, Grave #2 (69.9 – 199.5)”

Although the graves were numbered and marked, and map coordinates recorded, the site could not be located by post-war searches and all three Marines were declared non-recoverable.

Private Albert Bernes has not been officially accounted for.

The remains of PFC Drake and PFC Morrissey were found on Guadalcanal in 2013, and identified in 2016 and 2017 respectively. A third individual found nearby is still awaiting identification.

CENOTAPHS

Manila American Cemetery and Memorial