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Robert Joseph Brown

PFC Robert J. “Bobby Joe” Brown served with Headquarters Company, Third Battalion, 4th Marines.
He was killed in action at Abucay, on the Bataan peninsula, on 16 January 1942.

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

Branch

Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 296184

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

Robert Joseph Brown was born on 26 January 1921. He grew up in a house on East Jefferson Street in Havana, Illinois, with his older sister, Helen, and parents, Harold and Bernice. Tragedy struck the family when Bernice died in 1938; Harold rapidly remarried Marie Sansone of Terre Haute, Indiana.

By the summer of 1940, “Bobby Joe” had lived in Havana for seventeen of his nineteen years. He had two years of high school under his belt but may have lacked job prospects as the 1940 census records no occupation for him. Whatever his reasons may have been, Brown headed west until he reached Los Angeles. After about four weeks, he found his calling.

On 15 September, Constable Harold Brown received a telegram from California. Bobby Joe wanted to be a Marine – and the Marines had to be sure they wanted Bobby Joe. A similar telegram went to Harold’s boss, the Havana Chief of Police. Both men attested that the younger Brown was of good character, had no criminal record, and was unmarried. With approval secured, Bobby Joe was free to enlist and entered the service on 17 September 1940. The very same day, Private Brown was sent to the Third Recruit Battalion at MCRD San Diego. Under the watchful eyes of two seasoned platoon sergeants and a corporal, Brown’s 112th Platoon learned to be Marines.

Robert Brown's service record photo, taken September 24, 1940.
The 112th Platoon poses for a graduation photo. Robert Brown is highlighted in the rear row.

Brown completed boot camp on 9 November 1940, and was assigned for duty with Company M, Third Battalion, 6th Marines. He kept up his training with this company, even qualifying as a “swimmer, second class” shortly after his arrival. As one of the more junior members of the regiment, he spent a month on mess duty, receiving an “excellent” rating.

Brown’s military bearing may have played a role in his appointment to one of the most coveted assignments in the Corps – sea duty aboard a United States warship. And not just any warship, but the cruiser USS Houston, flagship of the American Asiatic Fleet and President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s personal favorite. During his months aboard the “Huey Maru,” Brown consistently received good performance ratings from his superiors. However, sea duty was only a temporary assignment, and on 16 September 1941 Brown bade farewell to the Houston. He dropped his sea bags in the barracks of Company B, First Separate Marine Battalion, garrisoning Cavite Navy Yard in the Philippine Islands.

Cavite from above, October 1941. The yard was one of the most important American military installations in the Pacific. (US Navy photo 80-G-178321)

Cavite was an ideal duty station in peacetime: the locals were friendly, liberties were plentiful, and a Marine private’s pay could go a long way. However, only the most optimistic or naive servicemen ignored the rumblings coming from Japan. As the year ended, the First Separate Battalion was organized into a more defensive posture; their primary duty was manning the antiaircraft batteries around the yard. The Marines also had a secret weapon: high-powered radar sets operated by a special Air Warning Detachment. The radar would alert the Yard to approaching Japanese forces – but many Marines wondered if their outdated weapons would be effective in combat.

The defenders got a badly needed strength boost from the 4th Marines, recently recalled from Shanghai to help shore up the Philippines. The “China Marines” were quickly integrated with the Separate Battalion under the auspices of the 16th Naval District. They would wind up fighting together in some of the harshest conditions of World War II.

The war arrived at Cavite on 10 December 1941. Japanese bombers struck the Philippines and, in a chillingly methodical manner, all but obliterated the Navy Yard. Soldiers, sailors, and Marines fought back as best they could, but their anti-aircraft shells burst far below the bombers. Casualty estimates reached as high as a thousand dead in the Navy Yard alone. The First Separate Battalion lost one of its own: PFC Thomas L. Wetherington was killed at his post near the main gate.

With the Yard in ruins, surviving defenders were redeployed to other vital areas or to man defensive positions against amphibious assault. Bobby Joe was transferred to the headquarters outfit of the Third Battalion, 4th Marines on 16 December; shortly thereafter, he was one of a few Marines detailed to provide security for the Mobile Air Warning Detachment – one of the few assets left to the shocked defenders.[1]

An SCR-270 radar set. Moving the massive assembly, with its attendant trucks and equipment, was a major headache for the Air Warning Detachment.

Few of the men thus detailed had any idea how to operate the delicate equipment; most acted as armed guards as the detachment moved stealthily from location to location to avoid Japanese patrols and scout planes. Marine Gunner John T. Brainard, the commander, did his best to keep his men and their vital equipment safe; as attacks continued, they became the guardians of the only operational long-range radar set in the Philippines, an SCR-270.[2]

Conditions with the air warning team – dubbed “Radio Bataan” – were significantly less than desirable. The radar equipment was cumbersome and conspicuous, requiring several trucks to transport and operate. At the same time, it was delicate and complicated, needing constant maintenance. With supplies already growing short, the Navy department decided that it could not provide rations or anything else to units that were “detached” – effectively orphaning the Marines of the radar detachment. Brainard’s men found themselves alone after moving the last of their equipment out of Cavite on 24 December. With no supply trucks or field kitchens, Christmas dinner consisted of “hardtack, cheese spread, and Ovaltine.”[3]

Bobby Joe commemorated New Year’s Eve with the news that he had been promoted to Private First Class.

Out of contact with Marine headquarters, unable to get supplies from the Navy, and with only grudging support from nearby Army quartermasters, the Mobile Air Warning Unit was left to its own devices. Brainard allowed (in fact, encouraged) his men to forage for needed supplies. Marines “reconnoitered” up and down Bataan for food, fuel, and other necessities.  One day in January, one of the patrols searching for supplies came upon a foreign freighter that had been disabled. Upon investigation, an ample supply of alcohol was found and summarily “requisitioned” for use by the Marine Corps. The event became known as “The Great Liquor Coup” and added to the growing reputation of the “Rogues of Bataan.”[4]

Some Marines, anxious to get into the fight, arranged scouting expeditions as an excuse to spend time on the front lines. Their enthusiasm drew official attention, and a Dodge command car pulled into the camp a few days after the liquor raid. Corporal Ted Williams, one of the “Rogues,” recognized the officer inside.

The short, heavyset man who climbed out of the car was already fast becoming a legend. Captain Arthur Wermuth was known as “The One Man Army”. The Japanese called him the “Ghost of Bataan." He resembled the true Pancho Villa, not a ludicrous movie version but the real thing. Of course, he wore no large sombrero, nor was he draped with a serape. He was robed in a cross between an American Army and Philippine Scout uniform. He clutched a Thompson submachine gun in his hand, and bandoleers crossed his chest. He also had a .45 pistol at his waist.

After introducing him to our C.O., I withdrew to check our power van, where the [equipment] was giving me some trouble. Gunner [Brainard] invited Captain Wermuth to share a drink with him, and I can only surmise what transpired. At any rate, about an hour later, Brainard assembled the men and introduced the Captain. The conversion went something like this.

“Men, this is Captain Wermuth of the Philippine scouts. He is here in hopes of acquiring a few volunteers to help him rout a group of Japanese infiltrators who are hiding in a cane field this side of the front lines. No technician will be spared, but any others may help him if they so desire. Are there any volunteers?”[5]

Several volunteers stepped forward immediately and were whisked away by Wermuth. They returned that night, glowing with excitement over a successful mission. The idea of joining the Scouts caught on. A few days later, some of the perpetrators of the Great Liquor Coup put their heads together and decided they wanted to get in on the action. After obtaining Brainard’s permission, “they took off for the MLR and Captain Wermuth’s outfit,” wrote Williams. “This time, they were more military, and the group included Sergeant [Charles] Eckstein, Corporal [Reinhold] Aschenbrenner, PFC Archie Shelton, and Privates [Earl] Gould and [Bobby Joe] Brown. [A sixth Marine, Private Richard J. Watson, was also present – ed.] They had been tippling a bit of the illicit ‘sauce’ and left in a jovial mood.”[6]

Captain Wermuth (left) with an aide on the Bataan Peninsula.

Wermuth had a job for the gung-ho Marines. The Japanese were putting heavy pressure on the main line of resistance – the Abucay Line – and recent fighting revealed a major weak point in the defenses. Japanese snipers and infiltrators were sneaking through a seemingly impenetrable cane field and causing havoc behind the lines. When armor and aircraft declined to burn the field, Wermuth decided to do it himself.

“It was night by the time we arrived, and we soon found that the Japanese had penetrated our defense through a cane field,” Aschenbrenner recalled after the war. “Wermuth requested that we go with him into this field and set off an incendiary bomb to ignite the cane. It was his hope that the conflagration would drive the enemy into the open. We all agreed to go. It was excitement, for we hadn’t seen any action yet.”[7] Wermuth issued small phosphorus bombs and detailed the Marines to burn down a nearby building that held a Japanese outpost.

The brief fight that followed was little more than a skirmish in the great battle of Bataan, but was remembered and retold in a number of ways. Depending on the account, the Marines either acted alone or were supported by up to thirty of Wermuth’s scouts. The attack took place under cover of night, or after daybreak on 16 January. The field was either burned, or abandoned when the raiding force was discovered. Few primary sources of the event survive, but Marine muster rolls and unit diaries indicate that three of the volunteers became casualties. Sergeant Eckstein and Private Watson were both wounded in action; PFC Robert J. Brown lost his life.

Excerpts from the muster roll of HQ/3/4th Marines, January 1942.

The brief fight that followed was little more than a skirmish in the great battle of Bataan, but was remembered and retold in a number of ways. Depending on the account, the Marines either acted alone or were supported by up to thirty of Wermuth’s scouts. The attack took place under cover of night, or after daybreak on 16 January. The field was either burned, or abandoned when the raiding force was discovered. Few primary sources of the event survive, but Marine muster rolls and unit diaries indicate that three of the volunteers became casualties. Sergeant Eckstein and Private Watson were both wounded in action; PFC Robert J. Brown lost his life.

When writing his memoir Rogues of Bataan, Marine veteran Ted Williams contacted his former comrade Reinholdt Aschenbrenner for details of the second Wermuth raid. As Aschenbrenner remembered:

We started toward a small rise on our left flank, then took an irrigation ditch up to the cane field. We never made it. The Japanese had already penetrated and were behind us. They opened up with a heavy machine gun which killed Brown instantly. Eckstein was badly hit by small arms fire.

Captain Wermuth signaled a retreat to the protection of our mortars. They did us little good as only one out of every three or four exploded. Shelton, Gould, and I half dragged the wounded Eckstein to the safety of a berm. We unlimbered a considerable number of hand grenades and thirty-caliber ammunition, assisted by the sporadic mortar fire. This drove the intruders back.

Later that morning, Shelton and I bellied up to Brown’s body and dragged him out to where we could carry him to the Captain’s command car. Eckstein was sent by ambulance to the hospital at little Baguio.[8]

Aschenbrenner’s matter-of-fact retelling contrasted with the more official story, which portrayed Bobby Joe Brown in a much more heroic light. Seeing one of his comrades – either Eckstein or Watson – wounded and immobilized, Brown pitched a grenade at the marauding machine gun, then opened up with his rifle. In doing so, he exposed himself to Japanese fire and was shot down in turn.

This very different account of events is backed up by one major piece of evidence: a medal citation. For his actions at Abacuay, Private Robert Joseph Brown was recommended for the Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest Army valor decoration. This honor was not just remarkable, but unprecedented at the time. Thirty-one Marines would eventually earn the DSC during World War II, but Brown was the first – and the only one so decorated for actions in the defense of the Philippines.[9]

The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously) to Robert Joseph Brown (296184), Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism while serving with Headquarters Company, Third Battalion, Fourth Marines, SIXTH Marine Division, in action in the vicinity of Abucay, Bataan, Philippine Islands, on 15 January 1942. While on legal leave from his proper unit, Private First Class Brown voluntarily joined a detail from the 57th Infantry, which was charged with the mission of destroying an enemy position through which snipers were infiltrating into our lines. During the performance of this mission, this intrepid soldier, observing that one of his companions had been severely wounded, and was unable to move, proceeded without orders in the face of enemy machine gun fire at close range in an effort to evacuate the casualty. Silencing a hostile gun by a well-placed hand grenade and inflicting several additional casualties on another enemy group, which prevented his reaching the vicinity of the wounded man, Private First Class Brown had thereby disclosed his position to the enemy and was mortally wounded by the ensuing enemy fire.[10]

Captain Wermuth – the only Army officer present – must have had a hand in Brown’s recommendation. Since the war, the reputation of the “One Man Army” has been called into question; while his personality was certainly larger than life, some of his contemporaries regarded him as a glory hound. However, during the battle of Bataan, his recommendation carried a lot of weight. The citation for Private Brown’s decoration was submitted on 5 April 1942, just four days before Bataan fell, and was approved after just five weeks.

However it happened, the end result of the patrol was the same: three Marine casualties and a hasty withdrawal from the cane field. The closest surgeons were at General Hospital #1 in Limay, more than fifteen miles to the south. The hospital’s resources were being pushed to the limit by recent attacks along the Abucay Line, and plans were already in motion to move the facility farther from the front, but the overworked doctors and nurses treated every patient who came through their wards. Sergeant Eckstein and Private Watson were two of 187 surgical cases treated at Hospital #1 on 16 January alone.[11] Both men were transferred to the new hospital at Little Baguio; Eckstein returned to duty on 23 January and was eventually captured on Corregidor, while Watson remained hospitalized and surrendered on Bataan. Both men would ultimately survive their ordeals as prisoners of war. 

The Bloomington Pantagraph, 17 March 1943.

Robert Brown may have been killed outright at the cane field, or possibly survived long enough to be evacuated to Limay. (Accounts differ, of course: Aschenbrenner claimed Brown died instantly, while other primary sources suggest he died of his wounds after some time elapsed.) His body was buried in a cemetery near the hospital, in Plot #7.

Other records offer an alternate location: “KP 148, Mariveles Road.” This probably indicates the location of the hospital (Kilometer Post 148) and not some vague location out in the boondocks. The hospital was described as “well laid out just east of the barrio of Limay on a sandy level area bounded on the east by Manila Bay, on the west by the main highway to Manila, on the north by the Limay River and on the south by a large farm.”[12] Less than a week after Brown was buried, Hospital #1 was evacuated and abandoned. The fate of the facility under Japanese occupation is difficult to trace. Cemeteries elsewhere in the Philippines are known to have been mistreated or destroyed by the conquering army; Filipino citizens often tried to maintain or repair burial grounds, but faced harsh reprisals – even death – if caught. The exact site of Cemetery #1, who was buried there, and what became of their remains is the subject of debate more than 75 years later.

The diagram above right is believed to depict Hospital #1 and the cemetery where Private Brown was buried. The building labels closely match those described in The Official History of General Hospital Number One, USAFFE, At Camp Limay, Bataan. Note the circles indicating where bombs fell in the area, including three close by the cemetery.

When word of the abortive Abucay attempt reached Marine headquarters, the officers in charge decided it was time to rein in Radio Bataan. First Lieutenant Lester A. Schade was sent to take over from Brainard; the gunner’s expertise kept him at his post, and foraging was curtailed until supplies ran out again.[13] Military justice caught up with the perpetrators of the Great Liquor Coup – reportedly in the form of an angry MP officer who felt he deserved a share of the loot – and the guilty parties were hit with a month of extra duty and six months forfeited pay. Bataan fell long before these sentences ended; even those who escaped to Corregidor were bound for capture and imprisonment:

Charles Eckstein made it to Corregidor before being captured. He was liberated from Fukuoka POW Camp #1 in Japan in 1945, as were Reinhold Aschenbrenner and Earl V. Gould.

Richard J. Watson was captured at Fort Mills, Bataan, on April 9, 1942. He would survive prison and be liberated from Shinjuku POW Camp in Tokyo.

Archie H. Shelton was captured on Corregidor, survived prison in the Philippines, and was transported to Japan. He died at Tokyo Sectional Camp #3 on 25 July 1945.

Marshall J. Appenzeller and Leo H. Stalker, who were in on the Great Liquor Coup, were captured on Bataan. Appenzeller was liberated from Osaka Main Camp; Stalker died at Fukuoka POW Camp #1 on 25 April 1945.

The leader of the Rogues, John T. Brainard, surrendered on Bataan. He was imprisoned at Cabanatuan in the Philippines and died in the sinking of the hellship Arisan Maru on 24 October 1944. Lester Schade, who relieved Brainard, was killed by American bombs aboard the hellship Enoura Maru on 9 January 1945. His remains were identified in 2018. 

Bobby Joe Brown’s body has never been identified. He is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.

Special thanks to Andrew Brown for the personal photographs and anecdotes included in this profile.
Notes

1. Donald J. Young, The Battle of Bataan: A Complete History, 2nd ed. (McFarland & Company, Inc; Jefferson, NC, 2009), 34. The structure of the 4th Marines changed dramatically during the fighting for the Philippines; Brown’s First Separate Battalion became the regiment’s Third Battalion, and he was carried on the rolls as a member of Headquarters Company.
2. J. Michael Miller, From Shanghai to Corregidor: Marines in the Defense of the Philippines.
3. Ibid. In fairness to the Navy, this decision was handed down from Congress, who declared “No enlisted personnel, absent from or unable to perform the duties of his organized unit shall receive subsistence, promotion in rank or other monetary considerations.” This bill was quietly passed and was not made known until after the war.
4. Ted R. Williams, Rogues of Bataan. Known participants in the Coup were Bobby Joe, Sergeant Charles L. Eckstein, Corporal Reinhold Aschenbrenner, PFC Marshall Appenzeller, and Privates Earl Gould and Leo H. Stalker, Jr. In the following months, all would be courts-martialed for “theft” – the charges apparently stemmed from a jealous MP captain who was refused a bottle of Scotch. Each Marine was fined, and three were reduced in rank.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Williams, Rogues of Bataan.
8. Ibid.
9. Much later, a handful of other Marines were decorated for their service with Philippine guerilla units after the fall of Bataan and Corregidor – more than a year after Brown’s award was approved.
10. Brown’s award was approved April 5, 1942; the official citation was written after the War, by which time the “new” Fourth Marines had been incorporated into the Sixth Marine Division. There was no such division at the time of Brown’s action.
11. James Duckworth, “Official History of General Hospital #1 USAFFE at Camp Limay Battan; Little Baguio, Camp O’Donnell, Tarlac, Philippine Islands, from Dec. 23, 1941 to June 30, 1942,” National Archives, Philippine Archive Collection, Washington, D. C.; RG 407, Box 12.
12. Ibid.
13. John Gordon, Fighting For McArthur: The Navy and Marine Corps’ Desperate Defense of the Philippines (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2011), 132.

Next Of Kin Address

Address of father, Mr. Howard Brown.

Location Of Loss

PFC Brown was killed in action near Abucay on the Bataan peninsula.

Related Profiles

Non-recovered Marines killed before the withdrawal to Corregidor
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0 thoughts on “Robert J. Brown”

  1. Comment from Andrew Brown
    23 June, 2012

    My name is Andrew Brown, half brother to PFC Robert Joseph Brown. Does Aschenbrenner’s version of the action on January 15, 1942 conflict with the the official citation for my brother’s DSC?

    Thank you, for the post and any additional information you may have.

    1. Reply to Andrew Brown
      24 June 2012

      Mr Brown – thank you for writing! The only verbatim account from Cpl. Aschenbrenner that I’ve come across is Donald J. Young’s book, which you can find here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/51299958/4/The-Battle-Is-Joined

      Aschenbrenner’s version is on the top of page 34. The author noted that his was the only eyewitness account of what happened on the patrol. However, PFC Brown’s citation would have to have been written up by an officer – and since this was an Army award, that could only have been Captain Wermuth – I would be very surprised if the citation was inaccurate, for a few reasons. Primarily because only 31 Marines received this award during the war – and of those, PFC Brown was the first. It wouldn’t make sense to give a cross-branch decoration (especially one as high as the DSC) without good cause, and Captain Wermuth was quite the fire-eater himself. There would quite simply be no point in posthumously decorating a man outside of his command simply for volunteering to go on a patrol. So between the two, I would argue that the citation is the correct version.

      There may be more information in the book “Rogues of Bataan” by Ted Williams, but I haven’t come across a copy of that yet.

      Best,

      Geoffrey

  2. Comment from Dan Pushman
    12 September 2012

    Dear Geoffrey, In my research of Captain Wermuth I have found conflicting accounts of his character; as you have probably discovered yourself. This in no way diminishes PFC Brown’s actions that resulted in his receiving the Distinguished Service Cross. But neither would I discount Pvt Aschenbrenner’s pragmatic account of the engagement as he had no reason to be evasive about the incident, other than to add to the discussion of Captain Wermuth’s actions as a combat leader and prisoner of war. As the nephew of a missing marine (an uncle was an aircrewman blown to smithereens over/on Okinawa), I understand how you would not want to trivialize their loved ones supreme sacrifice, but some people would rather not have combat actions embellished to make up for the dirty, ugly, painful death of a loved one and prefer the harsh truth that “war is hell” .

    1. Reply to Dan Pushman
      12 September 2012

      Mr. Pushman,
      As stated in an earlier post, reply, I am PFC Brown’s half brother. Your comment leaves me somewhat confused as to the truth of what happened. Are you saying that it is more likely that Pvt Aschenbrenner’s account is more accurate than that of Captain Wermuth’s which led to the official citation; that my brother received his Distinguished Service Cross because Captain Wermuth decided to “embellish”?

      Andrew Brown

  3. Comment from John Poindexter
    5 March 2015

    I find this web site very interesting, Archie Shelton is my uncle and I don’t have a lot of information on his military service except that he was captured in May 1942, and he also was in the same unit as Bobby Joe Brown. If you have any infofmation on my uncle it would like to have it. I have spoken with Edward Jackfort he was in the US Army air corp., and he spent three and a half years as a POW with Archie and they were in Kawasaki # 2B POW camp and Archie was killed on 7/25/1945.

    1. Reply to John Poindexter
      6 March 2015

      The only thing I can tell you is to contact the national archives in St Louis on Page Avenue. You can request to view your uncle’s complete file and even make copies for yourself. The archives has good records for Marines, but not so much for those who served in the army. Fire destroyed a great deal of the Army record.
      The photos that I provided are about all I have. Of the two pictures taken at Cavite, Is your uncle the marine standing with my brother?
      There is a book called “The Rogues of Bataan” that has some background on that unit. But it is a hard one to find. The author’s name is Ted Williams, (not the ballplayer)

      1. Reply to Andrew Brown
        8 October 2015

        Sir,

        If you could please call our office at (800) 847-1597 to discuss your brothers case and the current family composition in regards to PFC Robert Joseph Brown.
        It is our offices mission to provide surviving next of kin support in matters such as this. HQMC Casualty, POW/MIA Affairs.

      2. Reply to Andrew Brown
        6 March 2015

        I am not sure but it could Archie, the only pictures I have of him were taken in 1937 from his year book, and a picture of him taken in 1939 In his marine green uniform. My grandparents used his high school picture for his obituary. I got to talk to Ted Williams in 2005 but it was not until I saw this article about your half brother that I learned that what he told me made any since. I have gone to my local library and am trying to get his book on inter library loan. In Wellsburg WV they have a museum of the Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, and they have lots information and hopefully they have a copy of Ted Williams book because I have yet to find one. Where did you get your information, I have learned more in this article than I have been able to find on my own.

    2. Reply to John Poindexter
      6 March 2015

      Mr Poindexter – great to hear from you. I would second what Mr Brown says – definitely see about getting your uncle’s record from the National Archives.

      There are some professional services that will get it for you (I use and fully recommend Golden Arrow Research), or you can fill out the SF-180 form and send it in yourself:
      http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/standard-form-180.html

      The SF-180 takes a little bit longer, but I understand that the Archives are no longer releasing medical records to third party researchers – a bit of a problem, since dental records are so important to ID work – but they might do so for families.

      I’ll look through some of my records this weekend, and if I can find out anything else about Archie Shelton I’ll be sure to send it along.

      Best,
      Geoffrey

      1. Reply to missingmarines
        9 March 2015

        Thank you for the information on obtaining Archie’s military records I printed a copy of form 180, I will fill the form out and seen it to St. Louis and hopfully obtain them quickly. Do you know of any way of obtaining records for the 1st seperate Marine Battalion or original 4th Marines, or obtain a copy of Ted Williams book.

        1. Reply to John Poindexter
          9 march 2015

          The log book of the 4th Marines on Corregidor is up online at http://www.fold3.com – you’ll need a membership to view it, but if you’re pursuing any other military research, it’s an invaluable resource. It runs from about December 10, 1941 to the surrender, and many entries are handwritten, which is fascinating.

          You might also want to get in touch with the Marine Corps History Division at Quantico; they’re a fantastic resource and always very helpful. Original records are probably kept at the National Archives, but the Quantico staff can definitely get you pointed in the right direction.

          https://www.mcu.usmc.mil/historydivision

          As far as Rouges of Bataan – it’s been out of print for a while now, and prices get steep pretty quickly. (There’s one on Amazon.com right now for $100.) I’ve had good luck finding out of print books on eBay, too. According to WorldCat it’s available in libraries throughout the country, so that might be a better option before shelling out for a personal copy.

          Good luck with your SF180 request – keep us posted on what you discover!

          Geoff

  4. Comment from MACCS History
    9 September 2015

    Gentlemen,
    I have been leading up a research effort that is tracing the development of Aviation Command and Control within the Marine Corps. As part of this effort I have been looking into the history of the Marine Air Warning Detachment in the Philippines during 41-42. It is really the first Marine Aviation C2 unit in combat. They were the precursor of a much larger occupational field within the Marine Corps. The end result of this project is a book that is currently being written and eventually a website to hang all of the info we have obtained. Mr. Poindexter and Mr. Brown I would be very interested to speak with you with regard to your deceased relatives. I can offer some detailed information on what they were doing and I also have a copy of Mr. William’s book. I also have some material on another member of the detachment that may help fill in some blanks. If interested please email me a maccshistory@gmail.com.

    Thanks,
    Mark

    1. Reply to MACCS History
      13 September 2015

      My half brother, PFC R J Brown, was KIA 9 years before I was born. All I know is what has been passed down by family word of mouth except for the book by Mr Williams and an article in the December 1961 Argosy entitled ” One man army of Bataan” which was really the story of Captain Wermuth. The events surrounding the action that my brother saw were related in that story. I did go to the archive center in St Louis and made a copy of Bobby Joe’s service record. I have been curious to know what the actual function of his unit was and if they were really able to perform there duties in the aspect of air raid warning.

      I would very much like to know as much as possible about my brother’s unit.

      Andrew Brown

      1. Reply to Andrew Brown
        15 September 2015

        Mr. Brown,
        Thanks for the note. See the following link for the Story of Mr Irvin Scott – ( http://www.redskinshistorian.com/sites/default/files/docs/WWII%20article.pdf ) He was also with the Air Warning Detachment and spent 3 1/2 years as a POW in the Philippines and main land Japan. They were the only operational radar unit in the Philippines after the opening salvos of the war. They operated their SCR-270 until the day before they surrendered at Marivales. They were not doing GCI as much as routing American planes away from the Japanese planes so they could last longer. They blew up the radar and dumped it in Manila Bay so the Japanese would not get hold of it. Of the 34 men that were part of the detachment, your half brother was the only KIA during the Battle of Bataan. 15 of the gentlemen died during thier time as POWs. See the following link for info on where many are interred – (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=vcsr&GSvcid=548409 ) If you send me your email address I can send you some additional info from Mr. William’s book. Thanks for reaching out.

        Cheers,
        Mark

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