Edward Augustine Nalazek

Edward Nalazek was born in Chicago, Illinois on 26 March 1916. He was the oldest of four children born to Frank and Catherine (Huk) Nalazek, and grew up in the Windy City alongside siblings Josephine, Albina, and Francis.

“Eddie” developed into a fine student; after completing high school, he enrolled at Missouri’s Saint Louis University and graduated cum laude in 1938. With a bachelor degree in hand, he decided to study for the priesthood and moved to Prince George’s, Maryland to enter a seminary. In 1941, however, he voluntarily left his training and was absolved of his vows. The reasons why are no longer known; his family hypothesizes that the priesthood “just wasn’t for him.”

After leaving the seminary, Eddie returned to Chicago where he eventually enlisted in the Marine Corps on 18 March 1942. He was sent to San Diego for boot camp, then to the post Signal Company to attend radio school. With his education and specialized communications training, Eddie was quickly promoted to Private First Class and assigned to the comms platoon of Headquarters Company, Second Battalion, 18th Marines – an engineer unit then training in California.

In late 1942, PFC Nalazek and the 18th Marines deployed overseas to New Zealand to join the 2nd Marine Division. The regiment absorbed veteran engineer and pioneer troops with combat experience from Guadalcanal, and Nalazek’s Second Battalion was designated as the pioneer unit of the 18th Marines. Training and reorganization in New Zealand continued through October, 1943.

On 12 October, PFC Nalazek was detailed to duty with Company D, 18th Marines to serve as a radioman in the upcoming Operation GALVANIC.

Few details are known about PFC Nalazek’s experience in battle. He landed on one of Betio’s Red Beaches on 20 November 1943 and survived the initial phase of the fighting. Unfortunately, on 21 November, he was killed in action by multiple gunshot wounds.

After the battle, Nalazek’s remains were buried in “8th Marines Cemetery #2,” Grave 34. A temporary marker was placed over the grave site, and news of his death was delivered to his family in Chicago.

In the course of Betio’s transition from battlefield to base, the markers at “8th Marines Cemetery #2” were removed in lieu of a large memorial cross designating “Cemetery 27.” Nalazek’s name was painted on a plaque near the site. However, the new memorial was some distance from the real graves, and the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company failed to find the location when they exhumed the Betio cemeteries in 1946. Nalazek’s remains went undiscovered, and he was declared non-recoverable.

In 1967, a construction crew working on Betio unearthed human remains and military equipment near a wharf on the island’s northern coast. The bones and an identification tag for PFC Andrew A. McDonald (F/2/8th Marines) were shipped to a mortuary facility in Japan, where they were separated into eleven individuals. The case– designated XJ-1323 – was then examined for possible identification.

Four sets of remains were determined to be of Japanese or Korean origin, and were released to the appropriate authorities for disposition. The remainder, deemed to be American, could not be identified with the techniques of the time and were reburied in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

In 2015, non-profit organization History Flight located the original site of Cemetery 27 and recovered the remains of more than forty Marines. Knowing that PFC Nalazek was reported to be buried in the cemetery – and knowing that XJ-1323 originated from a site nearby – the remains were exhumed once again to determine a match. In 2019, remains from the History Flight find were paired with XJ-1323-B, and Eddie Nalazek’s identity was finally confirmed.

Nalazek was officially accounted for on 27 August 2019.

CENOTAPHS
Honolulu Memorial, Tablets of the Missing

FINAL BURIAL
Arlington National Cemetery