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Joseph Perry Karnaghon

Private Joseph P. Karnaghon served with Baker Company, First Battalion, 7th Marines.
He was killed in action at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on 24 September 1942.

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

Branch

Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number 366608

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

Current Status

Remains Not Recovered

Pursuit Category

This case is under Active Pursuit by the DPAA.

Capsule History

Pre-War Life

Birth

April 24, 1921
at Chanute, KS

Parents

Ernest Leroy Karnaghon
divorced from
Blanche (Perry) Karnaghon

Education

Details unknown

Occupation & Employer

General laborer

Service Life

Entered Service

April 29, 1942
at St. Louis, MO

Home Of Record

458 South Market Street
Springfield, MO

Next Of Kin

Father, Mr. Ernest Karnaghon

Military Specialty

Primary Unit

B/1/7th Marines

Campaigns Served

Guadalcanal

Individual Decorations

Purple Heart

Additional Service Details

Loss And Burial

Circumstances Of Loss

On 24 September 1942 – six days after arriving on Guadalcanal – the First Battalion, 7th Marines departed from the Lunga Perimeter and headed out into Guadalcanal’s backcountry. They followed a trail known as the “Maizuru Road” which had served as a Japanese advance and retreat route during the battle for Edson’s Ridge. The battalion commander, Lt. Col. Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller, hoped to cross the Matanikau River at an undefended point, then advance along the Japanese-held bank to outflank enemy fortifications. This maneuver was a crucial part of a planned offensive scheduled to begin on 26 September.

After an exhausting day-long hike, the battalion reached a stream bed and began searching for a suitable bivouac. While the rearguard (Company C and Company D) occupied a defendable hill, Companies A and B advanced to the riverbank and sent scouts into the woods beyond. They ran into a Japanese detachments and were caught in a murderous crossfire from multiple machine gun positions.

When the Japanese spotted our point, they moved back into the jungle and out of sight.... The chase led us into a horse shoe formation of five Jap machine guns. There was a fierce battle which lasted about thirty minutes. Fortunately, there was a large mahogany log, and some of the men crawled behind it. The log was close enough for the Marines to lob hand grenades at two of the machine guns.

[My] platoon of B Company had taken up defense in the stream, where the banks were about four feet high. I gave orders [to] to move out of the stream and up the bank. Just as we cleared the stream, two machine guns opened up on us. Some of us rolled back into the water, others lay flat, and got behind anything they could find. I rolled over behind a tree. The firing had us pinned down. Bullets were spraying everywhere.
Sergeant Joseph O. Goble
B/1/7th Marines

On Puller’s command, Baker Company tried to rush forward in a pincer maneuver to outflank the guns – but the Japanese fire was too heavy and several Marines were shot down, including platoon leader 2Lt. Walter Olliff and acting company commander 1Lt. Alvin C. Cockrell, Jr. With darkness quickly approaching, Puller decided to withdraw his men to the rearguard position at “Hill X,” several hundred yards to the rear. The Marines gathered their wounded, but had to leave the dead on the field for the time being.

One of the men who fell was Private Joseph Karnaghon, a 21-year-old from Missouri. Karnaghon had volunteered to join the 7th Marines a few weeks before – he had hoped to get out of garrison duty on Samoa and see some action with the famous “Chesty” Puller. The specifics of his death are not currently known.

Excerpt from the muster roll of B/1/7, September 1942.
Burial Information or Disposition

Early on 25 September, Puller’s men set out to locate and bury their friends. The ten fatal casualties were buried in two groups of five – one on “Hill X,” the reserve position, and one on “Hill Y,” closer to the scene of the firefight. The bodies of Wehr, Karnaghon, Pimentel, Edwinson, and Cockrell were carried to a ridgeline to increase the likelihood that future patrols would spot the graves. Identifying information was placed into the dead men’s canteens, and a dog tag was buried with each body. Finally, small markers were placed and the Marines said their goodbyes.

The battalion departed soon after the final grave was dug: two companies returned to the perimeter with the wounded, while Puller pressed on with Company C and reinforcements from 2/5th Marines. The remote location was rarely, if ever, seen by American troops for the rest of the battle.

Two post-war expeditions (1947 and 1949) failed to locate the graves of Puller’s men, and all were declared non-recoverable.

The Hill X and Hill Y sites were prioritized by the DPAA starting in 2012. Subsequent archaeological digs have returned possible remains, identification tags, and additional material evidence from the area. To date, no official identifications have been made.

Next Of Kin Address

Address of father, Mr. Ernest Karnaghon.

Location Of Loss

Approximate location of Hill Y – now the outskirts of Honiara, Guadalcanal.

Related Profiles

Buried in the field, Hills X and Y, as result of Maizuru Ambush.

Leaving Mac Behind: The Lost Marines of Guadalcanal

Willie Rowe, or someone who sounded a lot like Willie, was crying in the darkness.

PFC Gerald White could not blame Willie. He felt a bit like crying himself. His battalion of the 7t Marines left the Lunga perimeter full of fight, ready to prove they were no Johnny-come-lately laggards but the warriors who would turn the tide on Guadalcanal. Now they were a “weary and dejected band” dug in on a nameless hill overlooking an unfamiliar stream, an anonymous location with no known landmarks save those they named themselves. The field where Fuller found the cooking fire; the ridge their guns were on; the tree where Goble hid; the trail where Randolph died.

Unremarkable places, except that men bled for them.

Read more about the Maizuru Ambush in "Leaving Mac Behind."
Click the cover for details.

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0 thoughts on “Joseph P. Karnaghon”

  1. This was my Uncle . My father’s brother.I never met him as I wasn’t born yet but has been on my mind for some years, left out there on some hill in an unmarked grave ! Hope to have his remains returned home some day!

    1. I feel the same way you do. I am the nephew of John edward edwinson jr and did not know him, my fathers older brother. It looks to me they may have been in the same fire fight that day. I too wish they could have his remains returned home.My father named me after his older brother in which i am proud of, my aunt told me when i was young you were named after your uncle not your grandfather who was sr. I hope you get this reply and we get our wish. John Edward Edwinson III. N.H.

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