William F. Buchman

NAME William Francis Buchman				NICKNAME —				SERVICE # 2240015
HOME OF RECORD 102 East 176th Street, Bronx, NY				NEXT OF KIN Father, Mr. Joseph Buchman
DATE OF BIRTH April 19, 1921		DATE OF ENLISTMENT 1941					DATE OF LOSS August 7, 1942
REGION Solomons	CAMPAIGN / AREA Guadalcanal		CASUALTY TYPE KIA			UNIT H/2/1st Marines			DUTY Corpsman
CIRCUMSTANCES OF LOSS HA2c Buchman was attached to H Company, Second Battalion, 1st Marines during the landing on Guadalcanal. He was killed in a friendly fire incident by members of his own company during the first night on the island.
INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONS Purple Heart					LAST KNOWN RANK Hospital Apprentice, Second Class
STATUS OF REMAINS “Buried in the hills with no record of location of grave”					MEMORIALS Manila American Cemetery

Note: Buchman was portrayed as “Corpsman Lewis” in Episode One of The Pacific. The role was played by Brynn Loosemore.

Biography:
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Once there came a burst of gunfire. It shattered the night. We leaned over our guns, mouths agape in the darkness. But then the night closed in again. Darkness. The trees dripping. The jungle whispering. No one came.
At dawn we learned the import of the gunfire. A medical corpsman had been killed. He had been shot by his own men.
When the sentry had challenged him as he returned from relieving himself, he had boggled over the password “Lilliputian” and so met death: eternity at the mercy of a liquid consonant.
I shall never forget the sad faces of the friends who buried him. In that dismal dawn, the scraping of their entrenching tools was as plaintive as the scratching of a mouse.
– Robert Leckie, Helmet For My Pillow

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