Fay Gene Teter
Private Fay G. Teter served with Able Company, First Battalion, 6th Marines.
He was killed in action at Betio, Tarawa atoll, on 22 November 1943.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number 519475
Current Status
Accounted For
as of 2 August 2022
Recovery Organization
To Be Announced
Read DPAA Press Release
History
Fay Teter was born in Ardmore, Missouri on 11 December 1925, the first child of newlyweds Fay Parker Teter and Bertha Boyd. The family spent several years in Macon County before relocating to Rock Island, Illinois, in March 1929. The elder Fay worked as a cab driver and machinist while Bertha raised the kids – three by the mid-1930s: Fay, Bonnie, and Norman.
When he was old enough, Fay enrolled at Eugene Field Elementary School. He went on to attend Central Junior High and Rock Island High School, intending to graduate with the class of 1944. Fay was a member of the school’s successful wrestling squad, and spent his free moments with his steady girlfriend, Lela Mae Crouch.
The early 1940s seem to have been tumultuous for the Teters. A fourth child, Judy Jo, was born shortly before the country plunged into war, and father Fay took a defense job at the Rock Island Arsenal. Tensions between the parents may have worsened during this time; they would file for divorce in the summer of 1943. For his part, young Fay left school to work for the Rock Island Bridge and Iron Works. He turned seventeen just days after the first anniversary of Pearl Harbor – and, with new recruitment standards, was of age to enlist with parental permission. This he sought and got, and joined the Marine Corps at Chicago on 23 February 1943.
Private Teter trained with the 6th Recruit Battalion at San Diego, earning the silver cross of a rifle sharpshooter to go with his Eagle, Globe, and Anchor emblem. After advanced infantry school at Camp Elliott, he left the United States with the 22nd Replacement Draft and arrived in New Zealand at the camp of Battery B, 10th Marines. His service with this artillery outfit lasted just a few weeks; on 23 September 1943, Private Teter was taken up on the rolls of Company A, First Battalion, 6th Marines. He may have written home about this new development, addressing letters to his parents and Lela – now his fiancee.
In late October, Teter and the rest of his new comrades boarded a transport and sailed for combat. The 2nd Marine Division was invading the tiny island of Betio in the Tarawa atoll, and anticipated being able to stroll ashore after a punishing naval bombardment. As the Division reserve, the 6th Marines thought that they might miss out on the fighting altogether. This proved not to be the case, and they were called upon to land in rubber boats on the evening of 21 November 1943.
First Battalion, 6th attacked early the next morning, fighting determined Japanese defenders and sweltering heat. After a long day spent working their way through tangled brush and craters and fighting for countless Japanese bunkers and pillboxes, Able Company dug in for defense and helped repelled a concentrated banzai attack. They lost heavily, but extracted a worse toll on their attackers, and the battle largely ended the following day.
At some point during the fighting on 22 November, Fay Teter was shot in the chest and head. He had been in uniform for just nine months. The news reached Rock Island just in time for the holiday season; after absorbing the blow and handling their grief, his loved ones carried on with their lives. Friends from the iron works saved their money for the “Fay Teter Bond.” Bertha went to work at Rock Island Arsenal – and found a career that spanned 27 years until her retirement in 1970. Lela Crouch joined the WAVES in 1945; when the war ended, she married Army veteran Elton Iles and enjoyed a long life with several children. She passed away in 2014.
The day after he died, Private Teter was reportedly buried in “Gilbert Islands Cemetery” along with dozens of Marines from his battalion. He was one of eight Marines with a set of coordinates appended to his burial information: “Betio (KH 283072 D-2 Map 14Oct43).” Unfortunately, this burial site was destroyed shortly after the battle, and although a memorial with Private Teter’s name appeared in Cemetery 11 (Plot 3, Row 2, Grave 8), it bore no relation to his actual resting place.
In 2019, the non-profit organization History Flight located a previously lost burial feature known as Row D. This site was known to be the grave of most of the 1/6th Marines battle casualties, and more than thirty remains were subsequently recovered and identified. Among them were two Marines with map coordinates identical to the ones recorded for Private Teter. History Flight uncovered Teter’s remains, and he was officially accounted for on 2 August 2022.
Fay Teter is memorialized at the Honolulu Memorial, Courts of the Missing. In 2023, he was finally laid to rest in St. Ann’s Catholic Church Cemetery, Long Grove, Iowa.
Decorations
Purple Heart
For wounds resulting in his death, 22 November 1943.
Next Of Kin Address
Address of mother, Mrs. Bertha Teter.
Location Of Loss
Private Teter was killed in action at an unspecified location along Betio’s southern shore.
I am the son of Florence Boyd-Miller, Bertha Teter’s youngest sister. I would be interested knowing arrangements of Fay Teter returning home for internment. Thank you…