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Gerald Paul Hopkins

PFC Gerald P. Hopkins served with George Company, Second Battalion, 5th Marines.
He was killed in action at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on 26 September 1942.

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

Branch

Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 301889

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

September 17, 1921
at Scranton, PA

Parents

William Clement Hopkins
Elizabeth (Kelley) Hopkins (d. 1932)

Education

Central High School (1940)

Occupation & Employer

Student

Service Life

Entered Service

November 20, 1940
at Philadelphia, PA

Home Of Record

1612 Gibson Street
Scranton, PA

Next Of Kin

Father, Mr. William C. Hopkins

Military Specialty

Primary Unit

G/2/5th Marines

Campaigns Served

Solomon Islands / Guadalcanal

Individual Decorations

Purple Heart

Additional Service Details

Loss And Burial

Circumstances Of Loss

PFC Gerald Hopkins participated in the campaigns for the Solomon Islands as a member of G/2/5th Marines. By mid-September 1942, he was a veteran of landings on Tulagi, combat patrols on Guadalcanal, and the battle for Edson’s Ridge. “Hopkins was a young kid with a good sense of humor,” recalled G/2/5 Marine Ed Newell. “He took a little kidding because he had prominent front teeth. Like a good Marine, he gave it back”

On September 25, Hopkins’ battalion was ordered to saddle up and head into the boondocks to support a friendly combat patrol. They were placed under the temporary command of LtCol. Lewis “Chesty” Puller, and patrolled west towards the Matanikau River. They followed the eastern bank towards the river’s mouth and attempted to cross over a sandspit on the morning of 26 September. Japanese defenders knocked back scouts from Easy Company, and the Marines formed up along the bank to force their way across.

Captain Tom Richmond’s George Company was ordered to lead the assault across the spit, with Corporal Charles H. “Buddy” Waldron‘s squad on the point. “He had seven guys,” recalled First Sergeant Francis Lieberman. “He got the whole squad across. Then the roof caved in. They shot machine guns, mortars – goddamn, they used everything. The rest of us were pinned down on that open beach.”

Ed Newell remembered the sudden bloodbath that obliterated several of his friends in a matter of minutes.

We made three attacks trying to get across the sandspit at the mouth of the Matanikau River. Second Platoon lost Waldron, Hopkins, Kennedy, Thresher, and Vignovich, all on the same day at the same place – and quite a few wounded. The platoon was pretty chewed up that day.

We never got across the sandspit either, and it was only a few hundred yards long... divided the river from the sea. Hopkins was killed right at the water's edge on the ocean side.

Excerpt from the muster roll of G/2/5, September 1942.
Burial Information or Disposition

According to unit records, the Marines who fell in the failed attack across the Matanikau were buried on the west end of the sandspit “about 1,000 yards west of a road along beach at Guadalcanal.” However, the western bank of the Matanikau remained under Japanese control – and would be the scene of more fierce fighting in the months to come. As Ed Newell recalled:

I didn’t bury [Gerald] or take part in his burial. To  be honest, his body, and those of the other killed may have washed to sea during the night after the attack. If his body was recovered and buried on the sand spit, it would have been buried within just a few yards above high tide, and of course over the years anything could have happened to it.

Tides, river currents, and shifting sands have long since obliterated any trace of graves at the Matanikau river mouth. None of the Marines buried in the vicinity have ever been recovered.

Next Of Kin Address

Address of father, Mr. William C. Hopkins.

Location Of Loss

Mouth of the Matanikau River, Guadalcanal. The sandspit present during the war has long since vanished.

Related Profiles

Second Battalion, 5th Marines killed in action 26 September 1942
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