Donald James Coffey
PFC Donald J. “Don” Coffey served with Able Company, First Marine Raider Battalion (Edson’s Raiders).
He was killed in action while on patrol near Edson’s Ridge, Guadalcanal, on 13 September 1942.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number 353706
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
August 27, 1919
at Lansing, MI
Parents
James Kenneth Coffey
Juanita (Bartholomew) Coffey
Education
Lansing High School (1937)
Occupation & Employer
Lineman
Michigan Bell Telephone Company
Service Life
Entered Service
January 7, 1942
at Detroit, MI
Home Of Record
730 Westmoreland Avenue
Lansing, MI
Next Of Kin
Mother, Mrs. Juanita Coffey
Military Specialty
“Specialist 5th class” (sniper)
Primary Unit
A/1st Raider Battalion
Campaigns Served
Solomon Islands / Guadalcanal
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
PFC Donald J. Coffey served with Company A, 1st Raider Battalion, during the Solomon Islands campaign. He first saw action in the battle for Tulagi in August 1942, and then on the island of Guadalcanal in the weeks that followed. On the night of 12 September, Coffey’s company helped repel heavy Japanese attacks in the first phase of what would become known as the “Battle of Edson’s Ridge.”
The following morning, Captain John Antonelli led a combat patrol from the Ridge to re-take a Raider position overrun during the fighting. They encountered a large Japanese force and, after an hour-long firefight, withdrew to friendly positions. Coffey, as part of the rear guard, was covering the withdrawal when he was shot in the head – “dead before he hit the jungle floor,” in the words of a fellow Raider. He was the only casualty of the patrol.
Wars are not fought all at once in a crescendo; they are made up of little bits of action here and there. Each action may be small and seemingly unimportant. But to the man who is fighting for his life, it is the biggest battle in history. That must be how Don Coffey felt. We can't imagine how tire the boy must have been, or how terrified he might have been. That's only for a soldier to know. But Don had been trained to do such jobs as he was called upon to meet. He wouldn't give in to running, he was a marine – a Raider! The gang would send back reinforcements soon. In the meantime, his job was to pick them off like rabbits until that help did come.
Burial Information or Disposition
Coffey was officially reported as dead on 14 September 1942, and “buried in U.S. Cemetery, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands.” White’s dramatic eulogy offers a more poetic version: “They brought Don Coffey out of the jungle and laid him to rest in a simple grave.”
Unfortunately, neither account can be fully verified. Coffey may have been buried as Unknown X-8 in the First Marine Division Cemetery; if not, he either lies in an isolated grave somewhere near the Ridge, or was never recovered from the field.
Memorials
Next Of Kin Address
Address of mother, Mrs. Juanita Coffey.
Location Of Loss
PFC Coffey was killed in action in the vicinity of Edson’s Ridge.
