Charles Sviatoha
PFC Charles Sviatoha served with Fox Company, Second Battalion, 5th Marines.
He was killed in action near Point Cruz, Guadalcanal, on 3 November 1942.
Branch
Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 320031
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered.
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
March 17, 1917
at Youngstown, OH
Parents
Thomas Sviatoha
Mary Sviatoha
Education
Rayen High School
Occupation & Employer
Carnegie Illinois Steel Company
Service Life
Entered Service
September 3, 1941
at Cleveland, OH
Home Of Record
327 Clyde Street
Youngstown, OH
Next Of Kin
Mother, Mrs. Mary Sviatoha
Military Specialty
Rifleman
Primary Unit
F/2/5th Marines
Campaigns Served
Solomon Islands / Guadalcanal
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
Charles Sviatoha served in the Solomon Islands campaign as a rifleman attached to Fox Company, 5th Marines. The six-foot-three former steel worker was known as one of the strongest men in his platoon. “He worked more and harder than any other man I ever knew,” wrote 2Lt. Paul Moore, Jr. “If ever there was a job to do that took energy, hard work, and perseverance, Charlie was the one for it.” Sviatoha proved his grit on the battlefield in September 1942, when his company launched an unsupported attack across the Matanikau River. Five Japanese machine guns opened fire, and Sviatoha was charged with covering the Marine retreat. “Exposed to this terrible fire, he was so intent on his job of covering us we had to go right up to him and shake him before he noticed he was the last man still firing,” wrote Moore. “That is supreme devotion to duty and bravery.”
The third day of November 1942 marked the third day of a combined Marine-Army push to the west along Guadalcanal’s northern coast. Ambitious planners hoped to seize the Japanese base at Kokumbona, but an unexpectedly fierce defense by the Imperial Army’s 4th and 124 Infantry Regiments inflicted heavy casualties and stunted progress. The 5th Marines faced an especially tough challenge from Colonel Nomasu Nakaguma’s 4th Infantry entrenched around the base of Point Cruz. Two days of fierce fighting, including an unusual American bayonet charge, finally trapped the surviving Japanese infantry in a constricted pocket west of the Point.
The task of eliminating the final resistance fell to the Second Battalion, 5th Marines. Easy and George Companies advanced north towards the ravine where most of the Japanese troops sheltered, while Fox Company took up positions to the west, blocking the enemy’s retreat. As the pocket constricted, Fox Company joined in the final assault. Second Lieutenant Moore’s platoon was at the forefront.
This was on the third of November, 1942. We came down the line of skirmishers. One person would walk abreast of another, not actually walking but crawling and then some jumping up and running and hitting the deck behind a log or in some protected place – the front platoons would advance in that fashion. We had some supporting artillery before we went down, some mortar fire, and then we had automatic weapons giving us fire cover as we approached the beach. We got within a hundred yards of the beach, just short of the road.... It was a rather open area, with just a log or two here or there, and so my men started getting lacerated by machine guns, Japanese machine guns. I lost four or five men and two or three others wounded, so the platoon was down to about seven men at this point and the platoon sergeant and I were still going.... I got up and threw a hand grenade into the machine gun nest and, as I ducked back, got shot.
The skirmishers went on down to the beach and wound up in a bayonet fight with the Japanese, whom they finally pushed back into the sea. Others were killed. There was a terrible slaughter of Japanese and the battle was finally concluded.
Charlie Sviatoha “was advancing with us firing his rifle as rapidly as he could despite enemy machine guns,” Moore wrote to Mary Sviatoha. “One finally hit him. He died instantly. I wanted you to know what a wonderful job your Charlie did and how proud we were of him. He was a fine Marine and a great Christian.”
Burial Information or Disposition
Sviatoha was reportedly buried near the beach trail “immediately west of Matanikau River, Guadalcanal,” along with corpsman PhM3c Kenneth W. Durant and three other Marines from his company: Martin E. Kirschbaum, Jr., Joseph F. Smith, and Antonio Danebro. This was a well-traveled track familiar to both sides – and the scene of much heavy fighting.
It is also possible that the record keepers noted the wrong location. Fox Company’s position was to the west of a waterway beyond Point Cruz, described as “a small creek with muddy banks that dropped two to four feet down to the water’s edge.” Although much smaller than the Matanikau, this unnamed stream was an important terrain feature in the Point Cruz fighting and a clerical error or misunderstanding may have confused the two.
Subsequent fighting over the beach trail likely destroyed any traces of the graves; none of the remains were ever recovered.
Memorials
Next Of Kin Address
Address of mother, Mrs. Mary Sviatoha.
Location Of Loss
Sviatoha was killed in action near Point Cruz, Guadalcanal.
