Robert Otto Eberle
PFC Robert O. “Ebb” Eberle served with Fox Company, Second Battalion, 7th Marines.
He was killed in action at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on 9 October 1942.
Branch
Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 286699
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
This case is under Active Pursuit by the DPAA.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
February 2, 1922
at Long Branch, NJ
Parents
Robert Eberle (Sr.)
Mary (Stock) Eberle
Education
Asbury Park High School (1940)
Occupation & Employer
Delivery boy
Service Life
Entered Service
July 1, 1940
at New York, NY
Home Of Record
1227 Asbury Avenue
Asbury Park, NJ
Next Of Kin
Father, Mr. Robert Eberle
Military Specialty
—
Primary Unit
F/2/7th Marines
Campaigns Served
Solomon Islands / Guadalcanal
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
The Second Battalion, 7th Marines began 9 October 1942 in a bivouac atop a ridge west of Guadalcanal’s Matanikau River. They were soaked and exhausted from the previous day’s hard march in the rain, and still smarting from a firefight that dealt their first combat casualties of the campaign. Fox Company took the brunt of the carnage and were particularly salty; they spotted eight Japanese troops setting up machine guns and allowed the enemy to finish their task before raking them with fire. “The light machine gun is in possession of this battalion,” noted the unit operations report; even better, “F Company did not suffer any casualties at this time.”
PFC Robert “Ebb” Eberle, a New Jersey native living out his dream of becoming a Marine, must have found the morning action enthralling – but there was a full day of combat ahead, and the Japanese had plenty of other machine guns. As they moved down a heavily wooded ravine, Fox Company scouts were pinned down by a rapid-firing emplacement, and Eberle’s squad was chosen to flank the enemy.
We got on their flank all right, and started firing at them from a little ridge. The firing got heavier and Bob was hit, but he never suffered. He died instantly.... fighting for what we all want – everlasting peace. He was a real Marine and we all hated to see him go. He was buried and a few words and a prayer said and we all swore vengeance for him. And that, I assure you, was done.
Burial Information or Disposition
Under orders to return expeditiously to the Marine perimeter, 2/7 had no time for more than a rapid field burial. Eberle was interred at coordinates 69.7 – 200.4 on Map #104, the standard grid of Guadalcanal’s north coast. A few yards away lay the body of another Fox Company Marine, PFC Hugh G. Strickland.
Although the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company searched for Eberle’s burial site after the war, they ultimately came up empty. To date, no trace of “Ebb” has been found or identified.
Next Of Kin Address
Address of father, Mr. Robert Eberle.
Location Of Loss
Eberle and Strickland died in a ravine while heading north towards the coast.
Thank you for this site. This is my wife’s uncle and we learned so much.