Claude Walter Dobson
PFC Claude W. Dobson served with Charlie Company, First Battalion, 8th Marines.
He was reported missing in action at Betio, Tarawa atoll, on 21 November 1943,
and ultimately declared dead on 22 November 1944.
Branch
Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 814420
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
This case is under Active Pursuit by the DPAA.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
November 22, 1923
at Manhattan, KS
Parents
Claude Elmer Dobson (d. 1940)
Emma Susan (Parkerson) Dobson
Education
Stockdale High School
Occupation & Employer
Cederberg Sales Barn
Service Life
Entered Service
March 1, 1943
at Kansas City, MO
Home Of Record
500 Laramie Street
Manhattan, KS
Next Of Kin
Mother, Mrs. Emma S. Dobson
Military Specialty
—
Primary Unit
C/1/8th Marines
Campaigns Served
Tarawa
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
PFC Claude Dobson served with Charlie Company, 8th Marines, during the battle for Tarawa.
At midday on 20 November 1943, BLT 1-8 climbed over the sides of their transport ships and boarded LCVPs in Tarawa lagoon. They anticipated imminent landing orders, but due to the desperate situation on the beach were held offshore in their little boats, bobbing in the waves for the rest of the day and a very long night. Early on 21 November, they were ordered to land on Betio’s Beach Red 2.
At 0615, the first waves of 1-8 rushed down the ramps and into the breaking surf on a coral reef some 500 yards from shore. Although friendly troops held the water’s edge, they “immediately came under heavy machine gun fire from both flanks.” The battalion was decimated on the long walk to shore. An action report penned by the 8th Marines noted that “many of the casualties resulted from drowning, due to the heavy packs and equipment men attempted to take across the submerged fringing reef.”
PFC Dobson was last seen alive during the landing operation. Initial reports from his organization mentioned that he had been wounded in action and evacuated for medical treatment. However, he never arrived at a rear-area hospital – and, in fact, may have never reached a transport ship in the Tarawa lagoon. Efforts to determine his whereabouts proved fruitless, and Dobson was declared dead on 22 November 1944 – his twenty-first birthday.
Burial Information or Disposition
None recorded; reported as missing in action.
Because he was initially reported as wounded in action, Dobson did not have a memorial marker on Betio.
Next Of Kin Address
Address of mother, Mrs. Emma Dobson.
Location Of Loss
PFC Dobson’s battalion landed in the vicinity of Beach Red 2, Betio.