Harris White Shelton
Second Lieutenant Harris W. Shelton served as a platoon leader with Company C, First Battalion, 3rd Marines in the Bougainville campaign.
He was killed in action during the Cape Torokina landings on 1 November 1943, when Japanese gunfire sank his landing boat.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number O-16920
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information.
History
Harris Shelton was born at Enville, Tennessee in 1914. Records differ as to the exact date, which may have been either 13 September or 18 September. He was the third of John and Eula Shelton’s children, and spent his youth in Madison County. The family moved to Dallas, Texas in the late 1920s.
Young Harris showed a prodigious athletic talent. He played football for Forest Avenue High School, competed in numerous collegiate sports, and declared a major in physical education at Rice University. Shelton also received several academic scholarships, assisted in the biology lab, and was one of 27 young Americans chosen for the trip of a lifetime – a voyage to Germany to attend the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin as a VIP observer.
Shelton graduated from Rice with the class of 1937 and enrolled at Columbia University for post-graduate studies. In 1938, “a bit fed up on New York City,” he decided to head home to Dallas – by canoe. His trip led up the Hudson River and over to the Mississippi by way of Chicago.
Harris Shelton settled down somewhat in Dallas; he took a job teaching phys ed at Albert S. Johnston grammar school, and married Ruth O’Leary in 1940. The Sheltons were living in Santa Monica, California in 1942 when Harris decided to join the service. They would have a son, Harris Junior, born 1 July 1943 – just before Harris Senior left for combat.
Harris Shelton enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve on 17 July 1942. His academic and athletic background ensured an appointment to a platoon leader’s class, and he was soon called up to active duty. Shelton crossed the continent to attend Officer Candidate School at Quantico, and earned his commission on 16 December.
Not one to shy away from a challenge, Shelton requested parachute school and qualified as a Paramarine in early 1943. He was assigned to the Parachute Replacement Company at Camp Gillespie and served there through the spring and summer. However, Lieutenant Shelton would not deploy to a Paramarine unit himself. Instead, he was sent to the 26th Replacement Draft and sailed for the South Pacific.
Shelton arrived at New Caledonia in October 1943, and a few days later was assigned to duty with Company C, First Battalion, 3rd Marines. He took charge of the 2nd Platoon, and had only a few weeks to get acquainted with his men. At the end of October, Shelton and Charlie Company boarded the USS President Adams for transit to a new beachhead at Cape Torokina on the island of Bougainville.
On the morning of 1 November 1943, C/1/3rd Marines boarded their landing craft from the Adams. Lieutenant Shelton and two squads of his 2nd Platoon boarded Boat 21, which also carried a detachment from Headquarters Company and a demolition squad from the 19th Marines.
The landing was stiffly opposed by the Japanese defenders ashore, and a number of Adams landing craft were hit before reaching shore. Boat #21, in the third wave, took the most punishment. Three 75mm shells slammed through the ramp in quick succession, killing or wounding most of the Marines aboard as well as members of the boat crew.
Boat #21 careened up onto the beach, where five Marines managed to escape over the side. A member of the Adams shore party took command, backed the boat off the beach, and headed towards the transports at top speed. As the boat filled with water, those still able to move struggled to put on life jackets.
The wrecked boat finally sank at an unspecified point near Puruata Island. One sailor and five Marines were rescued from the water; the rest, including Lieutenant Shelton, were lost at sea.
Harris Shelton was reported as missing in action “after initial landing” on Bougainville, and officially declared dead on 2 November 1944. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of first lieutenant.
“After the first shell hit, the men in the forward part of the boat fell back toward the center as if a big wave had pushed them over. A shell fragment from the second hit me in the left thigh. The boat grounded, and I started over the side. It was an awful mess. Bloody men pulled themselves off the deck and forced themselves over the side. One man had part of his back blown off. Everyone kept hold of his rifle. Some of them only had half a rifle. The water was up to my chin. As I hit the sand, I looked back and saw that Smith wasn’t going to make it; he had a wound in his head. He was one of my boys. I went back, pulled him in, and dragged him behind a coconut log.”
Sergeant Dick K. McAllister, C/1/3
“Of the eight boats in the third wave, Boat #21 received three 75mm hits through the ramp just prior to hitting the beach. Five Marines were seen to climb out over the side, the remainder were killed or wounded. NICKELS (coxswain) and BALSCHUESMAN (bowman) jumped off stern of boat and were picked up by Boat #10. A member of the beach party, F1c Gilbert VARRIA backed boat #21 off the beach. The majority of the Marines embarked were wounded or killed. CM3 Raymond SCAPPAROTTA and MoMM2c Harvey PETERSON of the Ship’s Company were killed or wounded. VARRIA operated the boat at the highest speed away from the beach. It was filling rapidly. A few Marines were able to move to put on life jackets. This boat sank after passing between Puruata and Torokina Islands. In all, five Marines and VARRIA were the only ones saved….”
– Action Report of Torokina Point Landings, USS President Adams, 1 November 1943
Decorations

Purple Heart
For wounds resulting in his death in action, 1 November 1943.
Next Of Kin Address
Address of Mrs. Ruth O. Shelton
Location Of Loss
Boat 21 sank while withdrawing Blue Beach 2, just east of Puruata Island.
Related Profiles
Also Lost With Boat 21
Carpenter’s Mate 3rd Class Raymond James Scapparotta
Motor Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class Harvey Orville Peterson
Boat crew, USS President Adams