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Charles Sviatoha

PFC Charles Sviatoha served with Fox Company, Second Battalion, 5th Marines.
He was killed in action near Point Cruz, Guadalcanal, on 3 November 1942.

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

Branch

Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 320031

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

March 17, 1917
at Youngstown, OH

Parents

Thomas Sviatoha
Mary Sviatoha

Education

Rayen High School

Occupation & Employer

Carnegie Illinois Steel Company

Service Life

Entered Service

September 3, 1941
at Cleveland, OH

Home Of Record

327 Clyde Street
Youngstown, OH

Next Of Kin

Mother, Mrs. Mary Sviatoha

Military Specialty

Rifleman

Primary Unit

F/2/5th Marines

Campaigns Served

Solomon Islands / Guadalcanal

Individual Decorations

Purple Heart

Additional Service Details

Loss And Burial

Circumstances Of Loss

Charles Sviatoha served in the Solomon Islands campaign as a rifleman attached to Fox Company, 5th Marines. The six-foot-three former steel worker was known as one of the strongest men in his platoon. “He worked more and harder than any other man I ever knew,” wrote 2Lt. Paul Moore, Jr. “If ever there was a job to do that took energy, hard work, and perseverance, Charlie was the one for it.” Sviatoha proved his grit on the battlefield in September 1942, when his company launched an unsupported attack across the Matanikau River. Five Japanese machine guns opened fire, and Sviatoha was charged with covering the Marine retreat. “Exposed to this terrible fire, he was so intent on his job of covering us we had to go right up to him and shake him before he noticed he was the last man still firing,” wrote Moore. “That is supreme devotion to duty and bravery.”

The third day of November 1942 marked the third day of a combined Marine-Army push to the west along Guadalcanal’s northern coast. Ambitious planners hoped to seize the Japanese base at Kokumbona, but an unexpectedly fierce defense by the Imperial Army’s 4th and 124 Infantry Regiments inflicted heavy casualties and stunted progress. The 5th Marines faced an especially tough challenge from Colonel Nomasu Nakaguma’s 4th Infantry entrenched around the base of Point Cruz. Two days of fierce fighting, including an unusual American bayonet charge, finally trapped the surviving Japanese infantry in a constricted pocket west of the Point.

The task of eliminating the final resistance fell to the Second Battalion, 5th Marines. Easy and George Companies advanced north towards the ravine where most of the Japanese troops sheltered, while Fox Company took up positions to the west, blocking the enemy’s retreat. As the pocket constricted, Fox Company joined in the final assault. Second Lieutenant Moore’s platoon was at the forefront.

This was on the third of November, 1942. We came down the line of skirmishers. One person would walk abreast of another, not actually walking but crawling and then some jumping up and running and hitting the deck behind a log or in some protected place – the front platoons would advance in that fashion. We had some supporting artillery before we went down, some mortar fire, and then we had automatic weapons giving us fire cover as we approached the beach. We got within a hundred yards of the beach, just short of the road.... It was a rather open area, with just a log or two here or there, and so my men started getting lacerated by machine guns, Japanese machine guns. I lost four or five men and two or three others wounded, so the platoon was down to about seven men at this point and the platoon sergeant and I were still going.... I got up and threw a hand grenade into the machine gun nest and, as I ducked back, got shot.

The skirmishers went on down to the beach and wound up in a bayonet fight with the Japanese, whom they finally pushed back into the sea. Others were killed. There was a terrible slaughter of Japanese and the battle was finally concluded.

Charlie Sviatoha “was advancing with us firing his rifle as rapidly as he could despite enemy machine guns,” Moore wrote to Mary Sviatoha. “One finally hit him. He died instantly. I wanted you to know what a wonderful job your Charlie did and how proud we were of him. He was a fine Marine and a great Christian.”

Muster roll of F/2/5th Marines, November 1942.
Burial Information or Disposition

Sviatoha was reportedly buried near the beach trail “immediately west of Matanikau River, Guadalcanal,” along with corpsman PhM3c Kenneth W. Durant and three other Marines from his company: Martin E. Kirschbaum, Jr., Joseph F. Smith, and Antonio Danebro. This was a well-traveled track familiar to both sides – and the scene of much heavy fighting.

It is also possible that the record keepers noted the wrong location. Fox Company’s position was to the west of a waterway beyond Point Cruz, described as “a small creek with muddy banks that dropped two to four feet down to the water’s edge.” Although much smaller than the Matanikau, this unnamed stream was an important terrain feature in the Point Cruz fighting and a clerical error or misunderstanding may have confused the two.

Subsequent fighting over the beach trail likely destroyed any traces of the graves; none of the remains were ever recovered.

Next Of Kin Address

Address of mother, Mrs. Mary Sviatoha.

Location Of Loss

Sviatoha was killed in action near Point Cruz, Guadalcanal.

Related Profiles

Members of the 5th Marines non-recovered from the Point Cruz action, November 2-3, 1942.
November 2
November 3
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