Skip to content

Daniel Dermott Sweeney

Corporal Daniel D. Sweeney served with King Company, Third Battalion, 5th Marines.
He was reported missing in action near Point Cruz, Guadalcanal, on 2 November 1942.

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

Branch

Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number 282942

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

January 20, 1920
at New York, NY

Parents

James Sweeney
Della (McDermott) Sweeney

Education

High school graduate
(details unknown)

Occupation & Employer

Department store salesman

Service Life

Entered Service

March 11, 1940
at New York, NY

Home Of Record

102 West 92nd Street
New York, NY

Next Of Kin

Mother, Mrs. Della Sweeney

Military Specialty

Primary Unit

K/3/5th Marines

Campaigns Served

Solomon Islands / Guadalcanal

Individual Decorations

Purple Heart

Additional Service Details

Loss And Burial

Circumstances Of Loss

The “November Offensive” push to the west of Guadalcanal’s Matanikau River began badly for the 5th Marines. On 1 November, determined Japanese troops in well-fortified positions near Point Cruz slowed, then stopped 1/5th Marines with heavy casualties. A heavily-armed bivouac near the base of the Point offered the most resistance; plans for 2 November required the First and Third Battalions to hold the enemy in place, while the Second Battalion maneuvered to get behind the bivouac and cut off reinforcement or retreat.

Item and King Companies of 3/5 were positioned near the base of Point Cruz – where they had a ringside seat to further misery being inflicted on their buddies in First Battalion. “The temperature started shooting up toward 100 degrees,” recalled Jim McEnerey of K/3/5, “and a lot of guys in the First Battalion were still stuck in the open where that coconut grove used to be…. Not only were they frying out there in the blistering sun with hardly any place to take cover, but one of those Jap 75(mm guns) started zeroing in on them again.”

Lieutenant Charles J. Kimmel of I Company was crouched in the middle of a bunch of Marines from I and K Companies and staring down into the coconut grove, when he jumped up all of a sudden and yelled: "Those guys [in First Battalion] are getting murdered by that 75 out there. We got to give 'em some relief. Who wants to help me knock out that damn gun?" The first man to step forward was Corporal Weldon DeLong, a husky Marine just under six feet tall... "Sure," he said. "Let's hit 'em!".... Dozens of guys in K and I companies started jumping up and hollering, "Me too! Me too!" Captain [Erskine] Wells, the CO of I Company, was there too. He jammed his fist in the air to show his approval.

"Okay, fix bayonets!" Kimmel said. "And when I say 'Charge,' just run at the bastards like your pants are on fire." A few seconds later, close to a hundred Marines formed up in a ragged line. Then they yelled like a bunch of lunatics and took off like crazy toward that Jap-held ditch forty or fifty yards away.

This event – “the only authenticated US bayonet charge of the operation,” according to historian John Zimmerman – cracked the Japanese line. Most of the defenders died at their posts, while a few tried to swim to safety or fled west along the coast. Some reached a fortified ravine, while others ran into the muzzles of the Second Battalion. The momentum carried Item and King companies some 1,500 yards beyond Point Cruz and closed the circle on the remaining Japanese soldiers.

Corporal Daniel Sweeney of K/3/5 joined in the bayonet charge, but disappeared somewhere in the confusion and chaos. He was reported as missing in action after the fight – effective November 2nd or 3rd, depending on the source – and was ultimately declared dead on 4 November 1943.

Muster roll of K/3/5th Marines, November 1942.
Burial Information or Disposition

While there is no official report of Sweeney’s burial place, a recollection by Thurman I. Miller (K/3/5) may hold a clue as to what happened. The Americans withdrew from the Point Cruz area shortly after the fight, and the terrain was something of a no-man’s-land crisscrossed by patrols from both sides.

Every day there were patrols. One patrol was directed to seek out and identify the remains of one member of an earlier patrol. They found his grave and upon digging out the remains found that the jungle had already begun to claim the body. They recognized a tattoo on the forearm of the man, but since there were no dog tags on him they simply had to list him as missing in action. The strange thing was, the grave had a crude grave marker – a piece of board with the man's name: Sweeney. Apparently the Japanese had buried him, marked his grave, and kept his dog tags. Why? Our Graves Registration wouldn't have left him there. Was it an apology? A warning? Or was it the natives? We would never know.

Only one “Sweeney” was lost from K/3/5 during the Guadalcanal operation. Unfortunately, nothing more is known about this patrol, and the marker was likely destroyed in subsequent fighting.

Next Of Kin Address

Address of mother, Mrs. Della Sweeney.

Location Of Loss

Sweeney was last seen before a bayonet charge 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
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *