Frederick LaFrance

Sergeant Frederick LaFrance served with Easy Company, 2nd Marines during the battle of Tarawa. On 20 November 1943, his battalion was tasked with spearheading the assault on a stretch of sand called Beach Red Two. Easy Company was to land on the western half of the beach, but on the way to shore their LVTs were subjected to withering fire from the Japanese defenses, and the unit’s organization disintegrated. Casualties were extremely heavy; of 165 Easy Company men who went into action, 62 were killed and scores more were wounded over the course of the battle.

LaFrance, a pre-war Marine and Guadalcanal veteran, was last seen alive on 20 November. After the battle, he was reported as missing in action; when no further word of his whereabouts was received, his status was changed to killed in action as of that date. No further details of his fate are currently known.