Charles Sidney Miller
Corporal Charles S. Miller served with Mike Company, Third Battalion, 5th Marines.
He was killed in action near Point Cruz, Guadalcanal, on 2 November 1942.
Branch
Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 267749
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered.
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
June 21, 1921
at Brooklyn, NY
Parents
Charles S. Miller
Etta A. Miller
Education
Details unknown
Occupation & Employer
High school student
Service Life
Entered Service
August 22, 1938
at New York, NY
Home Of Record
2213 East 14th Street
Brooklyn, NY
Next Of Kin
Mother, Mrs. Etta Miller
Military Specialty
Squad Leader
Primary Unit
M/3/5th Marines
Campaigns Served
Solomon Islands / Guadalcanal
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
The “November Offensive” push to the west of Guadalcanal’s Matanikau River began badly for the 5th Marines. On 1 November, determined Japanese troops in well-fortified positions near Point Cruz slowed, then stopped 1/5th Marines with heavy casualties. A heavily-armed bivouac near the base of the Point offered the most resistance; plans for 2 November required the First and Third Battalions to hold the enemy in place, while the Second Battalion maneuvered to get behind the bivouac and cut off reinforcement or retreat. In the afternoon, a sudden and spirited bayonet charge by Item and King Companies broke through a troublesome strongpoint and drove the Japanese troops into a ravine west of Point Cruz, where they were surrounded.
Resistance was fierce and the battle extremely bloody, as Ore J. Marion recalled:
At one spot, the Japs had two antiaircraft guns that they had lowered until their barrels were horizontal. This enabled them to fire on a flat trajectory, the shells coming straight at us at a height of about four feet off the ground. It was diabolical – and lethal. I saw what was left of one of our guys who'd caught a round in the chest from one of those guns.
A similar fate may have befallen Corporal Charles Miller, a member of the Third Battalion’s heavy weapons company, who likely manned a heavy mortar or machine gun supporting the main attack. He was struck below the heart by shrapnel on 2 November and died of his wounds.
Burial Information or Disposition
None, remains not recovered. Miller was declared permanently non-recoverable in 1949.
Next Of Kin Address
Address of mother, Mrs. Etta Miller
Location Of Loss
Miller was killed in action near Point Cruz, Guadalcanal.
