Louis Wiesehan, Jr.

Louis Wiesehan, Jr. was born in Richmond, Indiana on 16 February 1923. He was the second of three children born to Marie and Fred Wiesehan Senior, and was raised in Richmond with his siblings Joan and Dick.

Louis attended Richmond High School and graduated with the class of 1941. According to his senior yearbook, he was “quiet, pleasant, and reserved,” as a student and noted for his interests in aviation and etiquette.

After graduation, Louis went to work for the Hook’s Drug Store in Richmond as a clerk.

On 9 February 1942, Loius Wiesehan traveled to Indianapolis to enlist in the Marine Corps. He was a few days shy of his nineteenth birthday, and observed the anniversary with little fanfare as a boot at Parris Island.

After boot training, Private Wiesehan was assigned to duty at the Naval Air Station in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. He spent a few months in the Marine barracks there before being transferred to the west coast with a replacement draft. Wiesehan shipped out from  California in January 1943, and arrived in New Zealand after a long sea journey. He then joined Company F, Second Battalion, 8th Marines as a replacement.

PFC Wiesehan trained with his new comrades for the summer months of 1943, and in October shipped out for his first combat assignment: Operation GALVANIC, or the invasion of Tarawa. He received dreadful news just before departure – a cable announcing the death of his father, Louis Senior, on 17 October. Wiesehan wrote back to some family friends, saying how sad he was and requesting additional information. The letter, dated 30 October, was the last he ever sent.

F/2/8 landed in the first waves to hit Betio on 20 November 1943; Wiesehan survived the first bloody phase of the battle and managed to make his way a short distance inland.

PFC Wiesehan was killed in action on 21 November 1943. His commanding officer, Captain Martin Barrett, wrote that Wiesehan was “manning a position on the front line” when enemy gunfire took his life. “Louis’ ability, attention to duty and willingness to serve was always exemplary, since joining this company and during the time he served with me,” Barrett continued. “He made many friends who join you in mourning his demise.”

Louis Wiesehan was reportedly buried in the “Division Cemetery” on Betio. However, the exact location was not recorded, and his remains were not among those identified after the war.

In 2015, an expedition led by non-profit recovery organization History Flight located the original site of Cemetery 27 on Betio. Two burial trenches were found near the spot where the 8th Marines came ashore, and more than 40 remains were exhumed and handed over for laboratory identification.

Sixteen of the men originally buried in this cemetery were marked as “unknowns.” One of these individuals turned out to be Louis Wiesehan. Four years after being found on Betio, Wiesehan was formally identified by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

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National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific

On 19 September 2020, Louis Wiesehan was laid to rest in Goshen Cemetery, back in his hometown of Richmond, Indiana.