Donald Harkness Beale
Private Donald H. “Don” Beale served with Charlie Company, First Battalion, 2nd Marines.
He was killed in action at Guadalcanal on 3 November 1942.
Branch
Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 349423
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
This case is under Active Pursuit by the DPAA.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
September 29, 1921
at Lime, CO
Parents
Earl Henry Beale
Madge (Harkness) Beale
Education
Pueblo High School (1940)
Occupation & Employer
Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation
Minnequa Works
Service Life
Entered Service
January 5, 1942
at Denver, CO
Home Of Record
1235 Carteret Avenue
Pueblo, CO
Next Of Kin
Mother, Mrs. Madge Beale
Military Specialty
—
Primary Unit
C/1/2nd Marines
Campaigns Served
Solomon Islands / Guadalcanal
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
Private Donald H. Beale served with C/1/2nd Marines during the Solomon Islands campaign.
At 0630 on 3 November 1942, Beale’s battalion began advancing west from the Point Cruz area, aiming for an area designated as the O3 Line. Shortly after noon, when about 300 yards short of the objective, they ran into a hornet’s nest of machine gun and mortar fire, and suffered 74 casualties before withdrawing to defensive positions.
Private Beale was killed in action during the day’s fighting; his body was left on the field. The exact location was not recorded, and his remains have not been accounted for.
Burial Information or Disposition
Company C lost six Marines killed in action on 3 November; of these, four – Private Donald Beale, PFC Lee H. Duren, PFC Bernard A. Fling, and Private William B. Schultz, Jr. – were not recovered from the battlefield due to the conditions of the fighting. The company’s muster roll hopefully suggested they were “presumably buried in the field at place of death” but there is no additional surviving evidence for this claim.
In the late 1940s, a search and recovery team from the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company discovered the remains of three men in the area. Two were identified – Private Thomas J. Christie (B/1/2) and PhM3c Bruce B. Bender (attached to the 2nd Marines). The remains of the third individual, designated “Isolated Burial X-12C,” were buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific as an unknown.
Next Of Kin Address
Address of mother, Mrs. Madge Beale.
Location Of Loss
A rough approximation of Beale’s area of loss on Guadalcanal.
