| NAME Charmning Willie Rowe |
NICKNAME Willie |
MCSN 347368 |
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| HOME OF RECORD Orlo Vista, FL |
NEXT OF KIN Father, Mr. Lesber T. Rowe |
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| DATE OF BIRTH April 4, 1921 |
DATE OF ENLISTMENT January 20, 1942 |
DATE OF LOSS September 24, 1942 |
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| REGION Solomons |
CAMPAIGN / AREA Guadalcanal |
CASUALTY TYPE Killed In Action |
UNIT A/1/7th Marines |
DUTY — |
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| CIRCUMSTANCES OF LOSS Private Rowe’s company was participating in a combat patrol along a Japanese roadway on 24 September 1942. As night approached, and the battalion began searching for a suitable bivouac site along a stream in the foothills of Mount Austen, the Japanese sprung an ambush. In the ensuing firefight, ten Marines were killed or mortally wounded. Private Rowe died of his wounds during the night. The following morning, his body was buried with four of his comrades in a small plot on “Hill X” in Guadalcanal’s backcountry. Multiple post-war searches of the area failed to locate these graves. |
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| INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONS Purple Heart |
LAST KNOWN RANK Private First Class |
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| STATUS OF REMAINS Buried in the field. “Hill X, Aerial Mosaic Map, Ref. 1-20,000, Grave 5” |
MEMORIALS Manila American Cemetery |
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Biography:
Temporarily removed for editing and updating. Contact the webmaster for information on this Marine.
“After the fight I went around to see who got hurt. They had a sort of little field hospital, a lot of the guys were hurt or dead. There’s this friend of mine, guy by the name of Rowe. He’s laying on his stomach. I said ‘Hey, where’d you get hit?’ He said, ‘I got hit in the butt.’ ‘Oh, that’s good, you’ll get to go home.’ He looked at me kinda funny, quizzically and said ‘Yeah….’ So I went to sleep that night, nothing ever happened, it was quiet after that. Woke up the next morning to see how Rowe was. Somebody said he died during the night. I said, what did he die from? The corpsman told me he wasn’t only shot in the butt, he had three bullet holes in his stomach and he died. So… friends of mine are beginning to have some problems.”
– Private Charles M. Jacobs, A/1/7
Articles and Records:
Excerpt from the muster roll of A/1/7, September 1942.
Map overlay showing the location of the five graves on “Hill X.” Designated Graves 1-5, they contained Pvt. Randolph Edwards, PFC Morris Canady, PFC Ervin King, PFC James Walters, and Pvt. Charmning “Willie” Rowe
Photo Gallery:
Coming soon.
