Harvey Ferris Avery

Gunnery Sergeant Harvey “Bud” Avery served as a senior non-commissioned officer with Company A, First Battalion, 8th Marines. Although wounded in the neck by a sniper’s bullet on Guadalcanal, he recovered and returned to duty in time for the invasion of Tarawa.

At midday on 20 November 1943, BLT 1-8 climbed over the sides of their transport ships and boarded LCVPs in Tarawa lagoon. They anticipated imminent landing orders, but due to the desperate situation on the beach were held offshore in their little boats, bobbing in the waves for the rest of the day and a very long night. Early on 21 November, they were ordered to land on Betio’s Beach Red 2.

At 0615, the first waves of 1-8 rushed down the ramps and into the breaking surf on a coral reef some 500 yards from shore. Although friendly troops held the water’s edge, they “immediately came under heavy machine gun fire from both flanks.” The battalion was decimated on the long walk to shore. An action report penned by the 8th Marines noted that “many of the casualties resulted from drowning, due to the heavy packs and equipment men attempted to take across the submerged fringing reef.”

Gunny Avery was last seen alive on the morning of 21 November 1943. He was reported as missing in action immediately after the battle; in early 1944, his status was changed to “killed in action.” No further details of his final moments are known.