Gerald Wilbur Stetzer
PFC Gerald W. Stetzer served with Dog Company, First Battalion, 2nd Marines.
He died of wounds suffered in action at Tanambogo, Solomon Islands , on 7 August 1942.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number 334228
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
June 8, 1921
at Melrose, WI
Parents
Wilbur McKinley Stetzer
Blanche (Bruley) Stetzer
Education
Grammar school
(Details unknown)
Occupation & Employer
Laborer
Civilian Conservation Corps
Service Life
Entered Service
December 16, 1941
at Milwaukee, WI
Home Of Record
Rural Route #3
Eau Claire, WI
Next Of Kin
Father, Mr. Wilbur Stetzer
Military Specialty
—
Primary Unit
D/1/2nd Marines
Campaigns Served
Solomon Islands / Gavutu-Tanambogo
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
PFC Gerald Stetzer served with Dog Company – a heavy weapons unit of the 2nd Marines – during the opening phases of the Solomon Islands campaign. His platoon was attached to one of the rifle companies of 1/2nd Marines during actual combat operations.
On 7 August 1942, the 1st Marine Raider Battalion and 1st Marine Parachute Battalion spearheaded assaults on the small islands of Tulagi and Gavutu-Tanambogo, in support of the larger landings on nearby Guadalcanal. Elements of the 2nd Marines were assigned as reinforcements, landing on lightly defended islands during the early morning hours. The sounds of heavy fighting from Tulagi and Gavutu could be heard echoing across the water.
The Paramarines secured Gavutu on the afternoon of 7 August, but the tiny island of Tanambogo proved a tougher obstacle. As evening drew down, it was decided to send B/1/2nd Marines – and their attached platoon of D/1/2 – to make an amphibious assault under cover of darkness. While PFC Stetzer’s platoon assignment is not known for sure, it appears he was part of this force.
Three boatloads of 2nd Marines departed from Gavutu, waited for a five-minute naval barrage to plaster Tanambogo, then gunned engines for shore. Unfortunately, the shelling touched off a gasoline or ammunition dump on the shore – which lit the entire area, spoiling the element of surprise. The Japanese responded with a hail of gunfire so intense that two of the boats never reached the shore; the third managed to land a handful of Marines before it too was driven off.
Corporal Myron Lane Abbott, an NCO in D/1/2, was aboard one of those landing boats.
Abbott was lucky to survive. Five Dog Company Marines were killed outright, and six others – including Abbott and Stetzer – were wounded. PFC Stetzer was hit severely, with bullets or shrapnel ripping into his back.
The Higgins boats withdrew and made for the transport USS Neville, designated as the hospital ship for the operation. The six wounded Dog Company Marines were hoisted aboard for treatment, but only five would survive. Stetzer succumbed to his wounds shortly after arriving on the Neville. He was just twenty-one years old.
Burial Information or Disposition
News of Gerald’s death took some time to circulate. He was initially reported as wounded and evacuated to the Neville; this information was duly entered onto his company’s muster roll. A confidential casualty report of his death was issued by the Neville’s medical officer on 17 August. Still, the message was muddled in the reporting. Gerald’s parents were originally told that he was “missing” in action in September 1942; this was corrected to “killed in action” two weeks later.
Oddly enough, PFC Stetzer was carried on his company’s muster roll as “sick and evacuated” through April, 1943. Finally, a footnoted correction was added to the official record – however, the correction gave Tulagi as the location of death, rather than Tanambogo.
Information concerning the disposition of Stetzer’s remains is likewise unclear. According to available sources, his remains were sent ashore from the Neville and buried somewhere on Tulagi. There were three small cemeteries at the time; if the information is correct, Stetzer was most likely buried in the White Beach Cemetery – the closest point where a boat might come ashore. However, there are no known records of his burial anywhere on the island. (Of the five other Dog Company men who died at Tanambogo, two were buried on Gavutu and three at Tulagi’s Police Barracks Cemetery.)
The Tulagi cemeteries were consolidated into a single burial ground late in 1944; a year later, the remains were exhumed again and reburied on Guadalcanal. In the process, records were mixed up and confuse, and a number of identities erased. Today, Gerald Stetzer may be buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific as an unknown.
Memorials
Next Of Kin Address
Address of father, Mr. Wilbur Stetzer.
The Stetzer farm was located on Rural Route #3, outside of Eau Claire.
Location Of Loss
PFC Stetzer died of wounds suffered during landing operations on Tanambogo.
