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Walter E. Blood

NAME
Walter Edward Blood
NICKNAME
SERVICE NUMBER
362601
UNIT
Company G
Second Battalion
8th Marines
HOME OF RECORD
22 Intervale Road, Wellesley, MA
NEXT OF KIN
Mother, Mrs Joanna M. Blood
DATE OF BIRTH
August 10, 1922
ENTERED SERVICE
January 23, 1942
DATE OF LOSS
November 23, 1942
REGION
Solomon Islands
CAMPAIGN / AREA
Guadalcanal
CASUALTY TYPE
Missing In Action
Declared Dead November 24, 1943
CIRCUMSTANCES OF LOSS

Private Walter E. Blood served with G/2/8th Marines during the battle of Guadalcanal.

On 22 November 1942, units of the Army’s Americal Division and the 8th Marine Regiment began a series of frontal attacks on a string of hills along the north coast of Guadalcanal. Steep ravines, bare ridges, and tenacious Japanese resistance thwarted the Americans, and after 48 hours the operation was called off. Nearly 40 members of the 8th Marines lost their lives in the futile assault.*

Private Blood was last seen in a ravine on the morning of 23 November 1942, as G/2/8 attempted to scale a heavily defended ridge. When the company withdrew back to their jumping off positions early in the afternoon, five Marines – including Blood – were missing. All were declared dead on 24 November 1943.

INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONS
Purple Heart
LAST KNOWN RANK
Private
STATUS OF REMAINS
Missing in action.
Last seen in vicinity of (69.7 – 199.8),
North Coast Guadalcanal.
MEMORIALS
Manila American Cemetery

* Note: Official sources and several histories report that the 8th Marines suffered nine fatal casualties. However, this number only accounts for those Marines who were buried in the island cemetery. It excludes fully 29 men who were reported missing in action or buried in the field.

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