Harold Charles Magehan
Corporal Harold C. “Bud” Magehan served with the Second Tank Battalion, Company C (Medium).
He was reported missing in action at Betio, Tarawa atoll, on 20 November 1943.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number 447526
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
This case is under Active Pursuit by the DPAA.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
March 15, 1921
at Chicago, IL
Parents
Harold Edgar Magehan
Alice Catherine (Fleming) Magehan
Education
Details unknown
Occupation & Employer
Signalman
Chicago Northwestern Railroad
Service Life
Entered Service
August 25, 1942
at Chicago, IL
Home Of Record
4629 North Winchester Ave.
Chicago, IL
Next Of Kin
Parents, Harold & Alice Magehan
Military Specialty
Recon Guide
Primary Unit
2nd Tank Battalion
Company C (Medium)
Campaigns Served
Tarawa
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
Corporal Harold “Bud” Magehan served as a recon guide with Company C (Medium), 2nd Tank Battalion, during the Tarawa campaign. During the amphibious landings on Betio, his role was to lead a platoon of tanks ashore using floats to mark a clear path around obstacles like shell holes or mines. It was a dangerous job in theory, and all but suicidal under fire.
According to Oscar Gilbert and Romain Canisere, Corporal Magehan was in the first LCVP to leave the USS Ashland and hit the water nearly 1200 yards from Beach Red One. Veteran Melvin Swango told the authors:
There were about twenty of us, all in one Higgins boat. By the time we hit the edge of the reef the machine gun fire was so intense it was tearing through the bulkheads of the Higgins boat. I would guess that maybe five or six of the men fell to the deck there, either killed or wounded.
They landed us right at the edge of the reef and we started wading in.... We spread out in a single line, spacing ourselves as far apart as possible while still being able to see any crater that might appear between us. Whenever we found a crater, one man would stand there to wave the tanks around it.... Our tanks were watching for us as they plowed through the water.
Machine gun fire was so intense it was like raindrops in the water all around us. Each time I looked around, there would be fewer of us. A man would simply sink beneath the water, and that would be the end of him. I only know of three of us who survived.
As the tankers waded ashore, Japanese fire struck Corporal George T. Ewing in the hip. “I lost my head, but Bud Magehan took me in hand and led me to a concrete emplacement,” he recalled. “[Magehan] took shelter in the water behind another emplacement. When it got dark, I called to him. There was no answer.”
Magehan was never seen alive again. He was reported as missing following the battle; a few months later, when it was clear he had not survived Tarawa, his status was changed to killed in action.
Burial Information or Disposition
None reported; identifiable remains not recovered.
A memorial marker was erected in Cemetery 33, Plot 14, Row 1, Grave 16.
Next Of Kin Address
Address of parents, Harold & Alice Magehan.
Location Of Loss
Corporal Magehan was last seen in the water near Betio’s Red Beach One.
