William F. Buchman

	NAME William Francis Buchman	NICKNAME —	SERVICE NUMBER 224 00 15
	UNIT Company H Second Battalion 1st Marines Corpsman	HOME OF RECORD 102 East 176th Street, Bronx, NY	NEXT OF KIN NEAREST RELATION
	DATE OF BIRTH August 23, 1923 (actual) April 19, 1921 (military)	ENTERED SERVICE December 19, 1940	DATE OF LOSS August 7, 1942
	REGION Solomon Islands	CAMPAIGN / AREA Guadalcanal	CASUALTY TYPE Accidental Death (friendly fire incident)
CIRCUMSTANCES OF LOSS Hospital Apprentice William Buchman was a Navy corpsman assigned to the Second Battalion, 1st Marines for the Guadalcanal campaign. He was attached to his battalion’s Company H. On the night of 7 August 1942, the first night ashore, Buchman was assigned to guard duty at his battalion’s position. In the confusion, he challenged a fellow Marine, who in turn shot the corpsman in the chest. Buchman died of his wounds within minutes – the first American to die on the island of Guadalcanal. The next morning, Buchman was buried in the field. The location of his grave was not recorded.
INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONS Purple Heart	LAST KNOWN RANK Hospital Apprentice, First Class	STATUS OF REMAINS Not recovered “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:
Coming soon. Contact the webmaster for more information about this Marine.

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

Articles & Records:

Before joining the Navy, Buchman spent more than a year in the infantry with the New York National Guard. He lied about his age to enlist, and was discharged when his deception was discovered.

Excerpt from the August 1942 muster roll of H/2/1.

The strange and sad tale of Buchman’s demise was outlined in this Quartermaster Form 371 issued to the teams searching for his remains.