Skip to content

Dalton William Whittington

Private Dalton W. “Billy” Whittington served with Able Company, First Battalion, 2nd Marines.
He was killed in action at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands , on 3 November 1942.

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

Branch

Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 331648

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 11, 1925
at Port Arthur, TX

Parents

Dalton Earnest Whittington
Jessie (Wiess) Whittington

Education

Details unknown

Occupation & Employer

Student

Service Life

Entered Service

December 11, 1941
at Houston, TX

Home Of Record

3725 34th Street
Port Arthur, TX

Next Of Kin

Mother, Mrs. Jessie Whittington

Military Specialty

Primary Unit

A/1/2nd Marines

Campaigns Served

Solomon Islands / Guadalcanal

Individual Decorations

Purple Heart (3 November 1942)

Additional Service Details

Loss And Burial

Circumstances Of Loss

Private Dalton Whittington served with Company A, 2nd Marines during the Solomon Islands campaign.

At 0630 on 3 November 1942, Whittington’s battalion began advancing west from the Point Cruz area, aiming for an area designated as the O3 Line. Shortly after noon, when about 300 yards short of the objective, they ran into a hornet’s nest of machine gun and mortar fire, and suffered 74 casualties before withdrawing to defensive positions.

Among the dead was seventeen-year-old “Billy” Whittington.

Burial Information or Disposition
Muster roll of A/1/2, November 1942.

Company A lost seven Marines killed in action on 3 November; of these, four – Private Raymond Hesslink, Private Doyle K. Miller, Private Dalton W. Whittington, and PFC Raymond E. Sanders – were not recovered from the battlefield due to the conditions of the fighting. The company’s muster roll hopefully suggested they were “presumably buried in the field at place of death” but there is no additional surviving evidence for this claim.

In the late 1940s, a search and recovery team from the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company discovered the remains of three men in the area. Two were identified – Private Thomas J. Christie (B/1/2) and PhM3c Bruce B. Bender (attached to the 2nd Marines). The remains of the third individual, designated “Isolated Burial X-12C,” were buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific as an unknown.

Next Of Kin Address

Address of mother, Mrs. Jessie Whittington

Location Of Loss

A rough approximation of Whittington’s area of loss on Guadalcanal.

Related Profiles

Members of First Battalion, 2nd Marines killed in "the vicinity of 300 yards West of Position 03" on 3 November 1942.
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Leave a Reply

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