Charles Henry Waldron
Corporal Charles H. “Bud” Waldron served with George Company, Second Battalion, 5th Marines.
He was killed in action at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on 26 September 1942.
Branch
Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 298548
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth*
June 30, 1917
at Oolitic, IN
Parents
Edward Waldon
Anna Nuell (Richeson) Waldron
Education
HS/College
Occupation & Employer
What & Where
* As "Charles William Waldon" on birth certificate. The family name appears to be "Waldon," with "Waldron" a common misspelling.
Service Life
Entered Service
October 9, 1940
at Cincinnati, OH
Home Of Record
92 2nd Street
Oolitic, IN
Next Of Kin
Mother, Mrs. Anna Waldron
Military Specialty
Squad Leader
Primary Unit
G/2/5th Marines
Campaigns Served
Solomon Islands / Guadalcanal
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
Corporal Charles Waldron participated in the campaigns for the Solomon Islands as a rifle squad leader in Second Platoon, 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. “Bud” was “well liked and respected by all his men,” noted Captain Tom Richardson, and “led his men in a most commendable manner.”
On September 25, Thresher’s 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 Richmond’s George Company was ordered to lead the assault across the spit, and Bud Waldron’s squad was the first across. “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....
Only one of Waldron’s men escaped the trap by diving into the ocean and swimming for safety. “He was a wreck,” recalled Top Lieberman. “The rest of them… we didn’t get them.”
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 veteran Ed Newell recalled:
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.
In the book My Father’s War, Peter Richmond – son of G/2/5 skipper Tom Richmond – recorded a Francis Lieberman’s memories of the battle’s aftermath.
Bud Waldron and I had a pact. If one of us survived, the other would visit the other's parents. After I got home, I contacted Bud's folks. My mother and I went over to see them. And what they said... didn't happen. They had gotten Bud's body back. They'd had a funeral. But, Peter... no one's body got sent back from that unit. A couple weeks later another outfit got a patrol over there, found a chain necklace he wore. Nothing else. They scoured the whole area. Nothing else.
Memorials
Next Of Kin Address
Address of mother, Mrs. Anna Waldon
Location Of Loss
Mouth of the Matanikau River, Guadalcanal. The sandspit present during the war has long since vanished.
