Guy McCewen Cooney
PFC Guy M. Cooney served with Baker Company, First Battalion, 25th Marines.
He was killed in action at Ennuebing (Jacob Island), Kwajalein atoll, on 31 January 1944.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number 435089
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
October 28, 1924
at Blain, PA
Parents
William Enslow Cooney
Susan Alice (O’Dell) Cooney
Education
Details unknown
Occupation & Employer
Details unknown
Service Life
Entered Service
August 5, 1942
at Philadelphia, PA
Home Of Record
Rural Route 1
Blain, PA
Next Of Kin
Mother, Mrs. Susan Cooney
Military Specialty
Ammunition Carrier (504)
Primary Unit
25th Marines (B/1)
Campaigns Served
Marshall Islands / North Kwajalein
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
On 31 January 1944, the First Battalion, 25th Marines made the first combat landings in the history of the 4th Marine Division with an amphibious assault on a series of small islands in northern Kwajalein. Baker Company, under Captain Edward L. Asbill, was ordered to conquer Ennuebing (codenamed “Jacob” Island) and eliminate any Japanese resistance, clearing the way for Marine artillery batteries to set up shop.
Heavy surf caused terrible trouble for the amphibious tractors – LVT(2) models – and their inexperienced crews. At least one tractor capsized on the approach to Jacob Island, dumping its human cargo into the water. PFC Guy Cooney, an ammunition carrier in Baker Company, was never seen again after his tractor flipped over; he was presumed to have drowned in the surf. Cooney was the company’s first combat fatality.
Burial Information or Disposition
Officially, Cooney’s remains were never recovered.
When the small islands were secured, a cemetery was established on Mellu (Ivan Island) for the men who fell early in Operation Flintlock. An anonymous individual – designated only by “USMC” on his grave marker – was buried there as Unknown X-1. After the war, these remains were shipped to Honolulu for laboratory analysis. After considering the physical traits and comparing the data with records of missing individuals, technicians at the Central Identification Laboratory announced their findings: “The physical and dental characteristics of X-1 were found to compare very favorably with those of PFC Cooney.”
The evidence was sufficient enough for the Department of the Navy to unanimously approve the identification. As a final step, the Cooney family was asked to accept or reject the identification.
The Cooneys declined “because the dental chart furnished the parents of PFC Cooney, which was the basis of identification, does not correspond with the dental chart of the [civilian] dentist who did the work of PFC Cooney.”
Ivan Island X-1 is currently buried as an unknown in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Section B, Grave 676.
Next Of Kin Address
Address of mother, Mrs. Susan Cooney.
Location Of Loss
PFC Cooney drowned offshore of Ennuebing, Kwajalein atoll.
