Leslie Victor Frink
Private Leslie V. “Bear” Frink served with Easy Company, First Marine Raider Battalion (Edson’s Raiders).
He was killed in action at the battle of Edson’s Ridge, Guadalcanal, on 14 September 1942.
Branch
Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 338291
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
January 20, 1924
at Seattle, WA
Parents
Marion Leslie Frink
Leona (Crawford) Frink
later Leona Zavales
Education
Lincoln High School (ex-1942)
Occupation & Employer
High school student
Service Life
Entered Service
January 24, 1942
at Seattle, WA
Home Of Record
807 North 49th Street
Seattle, WA
Next Of Kin
Mother, Mrs Leona A. Zavales
Military Specialty
MG Ammo Carrier
Primary Unit
E/1st Raider Battalion
Campaigns Served
Solomon Islands / Guadalcanal
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
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Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
Private Leslie “Bear” Frink served with Easy Company, First Marine Raider Battalion, during the Solomon Islands campaign. His primary duty was to carry ammunition for one of the company’s .30-caliber Browning machine guns. Frink saw his first combat on Tulagi in August, 1942, and later participated in a raid on Tasimboko and the infamous Battle of Edson’s Ridge.
On 12 September 1942 – the first night of the Ridge battle – Private Frink’s machine gun crew was attached to a C Company platoon posted on the right flank of the Marine line defending the route to Henderson Field. “We crossed the lagoon on a fallen tree, which appeared to be our only exit other than along the river,” recalled PFC John W. Mielke, a member of Frink’s crew. “This was very dense jungle, a heavy growth of banyan trees.” When Japanese troops overran the exposed position later that night, the Marines who survived the onslaught scattered and hid out as best they could. Frink and Mielke stuck together, sharing a foxhole near their original outpost.
As the sun rose the next morning, Marines attempted to seek out fallen buddies. Japanese troops were all around, and small firefights broke out as the groups bumped into each other in the underbrush. When one such scrap erupted close to their outpost, Frink and Mielke hurried to help. “Bear” pulled ahead – and Mielke heard gunshots and screaming. “Frink evidently emerged from the brush directly into [a] Japanese machine gun nest,” wrote historian James H. Alexander. “Startled riflemen bayoneted him in the chest.” Mielke managed to flank the Japanese position, eliminate the gunners, and helped rescue a group of Marines – actions which earned him the Navy Cross.
Burial Information or Disposition
Information contained in the First Raider Battalion’s muster roll indicates that Private Frink’s body was “interred in U.S. Cemetery, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands by ‘B’ Medical Company, 1st Marine Division.” However, his name was never recorded at the cemetery itself, and his remains were ultimately declared non-recoverable.
Frink, or one of his Raider comrades, may have been buried as Unknown X-8 in the First Marine Division Cemetery.
Next Of Kin Address
Address of mother, Mrs. Leona Zavales.
Location Of Loss
Private Frink was killed in action in the vicinity of Edson’s Ridge.