Cornelius Emmett Campbell
PFC Cornelius E. Campbell served with Weapons Company, 1st Marine Parachute Regiment.
He was reported missing in action at Bougainville on 9 December 1943.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number 489084
Current Status
Remains not recovered.
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
July 1, 1922
at Birmingham, AL
Parents
Thomas Francis Campbell, Sr.
Margaret (Kyle) Campbell
Education
Ensley High School
Occupation & Employer
Steel worker
Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co.
Service Life
Entered Service
October 15, 1942
at Birmingham, AL
Home Of Record
1009 46th Street
Birmingham, AL
Next Of Kin
Mother, Mrs. Margaret Campbell
Military Specialty
Machine Gunner
Primary Unit
Weapons/1st Paramarines
Campaigns Served
Bougainville
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
PFC Cornelius “Neil” Campbell, a former Golden Gloves boxer, served as a machine gunner in the Bougainville campaign.
A Paramarine force (consisting of the Third Battalion, 1st Marine Parachute Regiment, plus HQ and Weapons Companies) arrived at Bougainville on 4 December 1943 and were quickly fed into the Island Defensive Line atop and elevation called “Hill 1000.” Patrols discovered a spur “fortified by nature: matted jungle for concealment, gullies to impair passage, steep slopes to discourage everything,” on 7 December, but Japanese patrols were just as active and determined to keep the Marines off the ridge. Small, close-range engagements erupted as these groups ambushed each other in the dense jungle:
Again on the 9th, a patrol from the Third Parachute Battalion was ambushed. On that date a decision was reached to straighten out a re-entrant into the line at the boundaries of Companies "I" and "K." A patrol from Company "I" was sent forward to reconnoiter. This patrol was ambushed by about eight Japanese with three MGs in hastily constructed entrenchments.... The [Marine] patrol withdrew with one man missing. A second patrol encountered the enemy in the same location. One Marine was killed and the patrol withdrew.
The Paramarines sent out yet another patrol – two squads, augmented by a section of light machine guns drawn from the Weapons Company. A third firefight ensued; during the action, one of the LMG squads became separated from the rest of the patrol and was left behind. Three men returned to friendly lines after a sixteen-hour ordeal in the jungle. Three others – First Lieutenant Carl A. Boberg, PFC Melvin T. Eschler, and Neil Campbell – were missing.
A thirty-man patrol went out to search for the lost Marines, but returned empty-handed.
Burial Information or Disposition
The terrain around “Hellzapoppin’ Ridge” was not fully secured until 18 December. More than a dozen dead Paramarines were finally collected from the battlefield and given burials in the field. Some were still identifiable – including Lieutenant Carl Boberg. Others were not, and were buried as unknowns. All known graves were later exhumed and reburied multiple times, finally winding up in US Armed Forces Cemetery #5 at Finschhafen.
In February 1951, mortuary technicians working at the US Army Mausoleum in Manila managed to identify the remains of PFC Melvin Eschler.
To date, PFC Campbell has not been accounted for. His remains may be among those buried as unknowns in Manila, or he may still lie somewhere near Hellzapoppin’ Ridge.
Memorials
Next Of Kin Address
Address of mother, Mrs. Margaret Campbell.
Location Of Loss
Approximate location of Hill 1000 / Hellzapoppin’ Ridge.
