Carl Raymond Wheelock
PFC Carl R. Wheelock served with King Company, Third Battalion, 24th Marines.
He was reported missing in action at Roi-Namur, Kwajalein Atoll, on 1 February 1944.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number 455452
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
June 20, 1921
at Long Lake Township, MI
Parents
John Ervin Wheelock
Ruth Minnie (Scamehorn) Wheelock
Education
Grammar school
(details unknown)
Occupation & Employer
Clark Equipment Company
Service Life
Entered Service
September 11, 1942
at Detroit, MI
Home Of Record
Traverse City, MI
Next Of Kin
Mother, Mrs. Ruth Wheelock
Military Specialty
Machine gunner
Primary Unit
K/3/24th Marines
Campaigns Served
Marshall Islands / North Kwajalein
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
On 1 February 1944, the 24th Marines made their first-ever amphibious landing on the island of Namur in Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands. The Third Battalion would land on Beach Green One – the western half of the island – with Item and King Companies in the lead.
Lieutenant John C. Chapin, a K/3/24 platoon leader, described the landings in his history Breaking the Outer Ring: Marine Landings in the Marshall Islands.
By now everything was all mixed up, with our assault wave all entangled with the armored tractors ahead of us. I ordered my driver to maneuver around them. Slowly we inched past, as their 37mm guns and .50-cal. machine guns flamed. The beach lay right before us. However, it was shrouded in such a pall of dust and smoke from our bombardment that we could see very little of it. As a result, we were unable to tell which section we were approaching (after all our hours of careful planning, based on hitting the beach at one exact spot!)
As the tractors drew near the beach, Marines in the troop well climbed up to man the machine guns mounted on the cab and rear deck. This exposed them to fire from the beach and the amphibian tanks firing from behind – a dangerous position, as Chapin vividly recounts.
I turned to talk to my platoon sergeant, who was manning the machine gun right beside me. He was slumped over—the whole right side of his head disintegrated into a mass of gore. Up to now, the entire operation had seemed almost like a movie, or like one of the innumerable practice landings we'd made.
Now one of my men lay in a welter of blood beside me, and the reality of it smashed into my consciousness.
While Chapin was probably remembering Platoon Sergeant Zigmund J. Sienkaniec of K/3/24, he noted that a similar fate befell PFC Carl Wheelock, who was also manning one of the LVT’s machine guns.
Chapin’s LVT reached the shore at last; the unwounded survivors tumbled out, and the LVT reversed off the beach carrying a handful of wounded men. The destroyer USS Johnston reported receiving six wounded Marines – two of whom, Sienkaniec and Magewski, belonged to K/3/24 – aboard at 1226 hours; Sienkaniec died under treatment, and all six were later transferred to USS Doyen. Although Sienkaniec and Wheelock were probably aboard the same LVT – for both were seen wounded by Lieutenant Chapin – Wheelock was not taken aboard the Johnston.
It may be that PFC Wheelock died aboard the LVT and was taken to another ship for burial at sea as an unknown; or perhaps the LVT he was left aboard eventually sank in the lagoon. Without an eyewitness to confirm death, he was first reported as wounded in action, and then missing. An official declaration of death was issued on 2 February 1945.
Burial Information or Disposition
None; remains not recovered.
Next Of Kin Address
The Wheelocks lived on a rural route outside of Traverse City, MI.
Location Of Loss
Private Wheelock was last seen in an LVT landing on Namur, Kwajalein Atoll.
