Bernard Albert Fling
PFC Bernard A. Fling served with Charlie Company, First Battalion, 2nd Marines.
He was killed in action at Guadalcanal on 3 November 1942.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number 336962
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
January 9, 1923
at Detroit, MI
Parents
Brooks Fling
Bernadette (Dorval) Fling
Education
Details unknown
Occupation & Employer
Details unknown
Service Life
Entered Service
December 16, 1941
at Detroit, MI
Home Of Record
1353 Holden Avenue
Detroit, MI
Next Of Kin
Father, Mr. Brooks Fling
Military Specialty
—
Primary Unit
C/1/2nd Marines
Campaigns Served
Solomon Islands / Guadalcanal
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
PFC Bernard Fling served with C/1/2nd Marines during the Solomon Islands campaign.
At 0630 on 3 November 1942, Fling’s battalion began advancing west from the Point Cruz area, aiming for an area designated as the O3 Line. Shortly after noon, when about 300 yards short of the objective, they ran into a hornet’s nest of machine gun and mortar fire, and suffered 74 casualties before withdrawing to defensive positions.
PFC Fling was killed in action during the day’s fighting; his body was left on the field. The exact location was not recorded, and his remains have not been accounted for.
Burial Information or Disposition
Company C lost six Marines killed in action on 3 November; of these, four – Private Donald H. Beale, PFC Lee H. Duren, PFC Bernard A. Fling, and Private William B. Schultz, Jr. – were not recovered from the battlefield due to the conditions of the fighting. The company’s muster roll hopefully suggested they were “presumably buried in the field at place of death” but there is no additional surviving evidence for this claim.
In the late 1940s, a search and recovery team from the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company discovered the remains of three men in the area. Two were identified – Private Thomas J. Christie (B/1/2) and PhM3c Bruce B. Bender (attached to the 2nd Marines). The remains of the third individual, designated “Isolated Burial X-12C,” were buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific as an unknown.
Memorials
Next Of Kin Address
Address of father, Mr. Brooks Fling.
Location Of Loss
A rough approximation of Fling’s area of loss on Guadalcanal.
