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NAME Charles Casper Winnia |
NICKNAME — |
SERVICE NUMBER O-14324 |
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| UNIT VMF-213 Pilot |
HOME OF RECORD 1173 LeRoy Street San Diego, CA |
NEXT OF KIN Mother, Mrs. Stella R. Winnia |
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| DATE OF BIRTH August 21, 1921 at Santa Fe, NM |
ENTERED SERVICE September 25, 1942 (commissioned) |
DATE OF LOSS July 18, 1943 |
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| REGION Solomon Islands |
CAMPAIGN / AREA Bougainville / Kahili |
CASUALTY TYPE Missing In Action Declared Dead January 10, 1946 |
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| CIRCUMSTANCES OF LOSS First Lieutenant Charles C. Winnia, was a pilot assigned to VMF-213, a Marine fighter squadron based out of Guadalcanal in the summer of 1943. On 18 July 1943, VMF-213 was assigned the mission of escorting B-24 bombers in a strike against Kahili Airfield on Bougainville. They were intercepted by Japanese airplanes, and in the ensuing dogfight, Lt. Winnia’s Corsair disappeared. He was not seen after the opening moments of the fight and did not return to base. A radio report received by the State Department in September, 1943, reported Charles Winnia as a prisoner of war. He had been shot down over Kahili and wounded; the report stated that his right leg was amputated below the knee. Nothing more was ever heard about Winnia; he was not liberated from any POW camp after the war, and his ultimate fate remains unknown. He was declared dead on 10 January 1946. |
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| INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONS Purple Heart |
LAST KNOWN RANK First Lieutenant |
STATUS OF REMAINS Missing In Action |
MEMORIALS Manila American Cemetery |
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Biography:
Contact the webmaster for more information about this Marine.
Charles Winnia’s diary was found in the home of one of his squadronmates, Capt. Alonzo “Tref” Treffer, in 1994.
A transcription by C. S. Richardson is available online.
Gallery:
