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Donald James Coffey

PFC Donald J. “Don” Coffey served with Able Company, First Marine Raider Battalion (Edson’s Raiders).
He was killed in action while on patrol near Edson’s Ridge, Guadalcanal, on 13 September 1942.

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

Branch

Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number 353706

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.

Capsule History

Pre-War Life

Birth

August 27, 1919
at Lansing, MI

Parents

James Kenneth Coffey
Juanita (Bartholomew) Coffey

Education

Lansing High School (1937)

Occupation & Employer

Lineman
Michigan Bell Telephone Company

Service Life

Entered Service

January 7, 1942
at Detroit, MI

Home Of Record

730 Westmoreland Avenue
Lansing, MI

Next Of Kin

Mother, Mrs. Juanita Coffey

Military Specialty

“Specialist 5th class” (sniper)

Primary Unit

A/1st Raider Battalion

Campaigns Served

Solomon Islands / Guadalcanal

Individual Decorations

Purple Heart

Additional Service Details

Loss And Burial

Circumstances Of Loss

PFC Donald J. Coffey served with Company A, 1st Raider Battalion, during the Solomon Islands campaign. He first saw action in the battle for Tulagi in August 1942, and then on the island of Guadalcanal in the weeks that followed. On the night of 12 September, Coffey’s company helped repel heavy Japanese attacks in the first phase of what would become known as the “Battle of Edson’s Ridge.”

The following morning, Captain John Antonelli led a combat patrol from the Ridge to re-take a Raider position overrun during the fighting. They encountered a large Japanese force and, after an hour-long firefight, withdrew to friendly positions. Coffey, as part of the rear guard, was covering the withdrawal when he was shot in the head – “dead before he hit the jungle floor,” in the words of a fellow Raider. He was the only casualty of the patrol.

Wars are not fought all at once in a crescendo; they are made up of little bits of action here and there. Each action may be small and seemingly unimportant. But to the man who is fighting for his life, it is the biggest battle in history. That must be how Don Coffey felt. We can't imagine how tire the boy must have been, or how terrified he might have been. That's only for a soldier to know. But Don had been trained to do such jobs as he was called upon to meet. He wouldn't give in to running, he was a marine – a Raider! The gang would send back reinforcements soon. In the meantime, his job was to pick them off like rabbits until that help did come.

Burial Information or Disposition

Coffey was officially reported as dead on 14 September 1942, and “buried in U.S. Cemetery, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands.” White’s dramatic eulogy offers a more poetic version: “They brought Don Coffey out of the jungle and laid him to rest in a simple grave.”

Unfortunately, neither account can be fully verified. Coffey may have been buried as Unknown X-8 in the First Marine Division Cemetery; if not, he either lies in an isolated grave somewhere near the Ridge, or was never recovered from the field.

Excerpt from the muster roll of First Raider Battalion, September 1942. The "details later" were never added to this document.

Next Of Kin Address

Address of mother, Mrs. Juanita Coffey.

Location Of Loss

PFC Coffey was killed in action in the vicinity of Edson’s Ridge.

Related Profiles

These Edson's Ridge Raiders are still unaccounted for.
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