Henry Carl Verhaalen
Private Henry C. Verhaalen served with CHarlie Company, Second Amphibian Tractor Battalion.
He was reported missing in action at Betio, Tarawa atoll, on 20 November 1943.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number 507341
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
This case is under Active Pursuit by the DPAA.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
October 31, 1922
at Milwaukee, WI
Parents
John Theodore Verhaalen
May (Roden) Verhaalen
Education
HS/College
Occupation & Employer
Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing
Service Life
Entered Service
December 12, 1942
at Milwaukee, WI
Home Of Record
2418 Vine Street
Milwaukee, WI
Next Of Kin
Father, Mr. John T. Verhaalen
Military Specialty
Amphibian Tractor Crewman
Primary Unit
C/2nd Amphtrac Bn.
Campaigns Served
Tarawa
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
Private Henry Verhaalen served as an amphibian tractor crewman during the invasion of Betio, Tarawa atoll. His vehicle, an LVT-1 “Alligator,” arrived at the battle aboard the USS Virgo and carried troops of 2/2nd Marines into the assault on Red Beach 2.
Verhaalen was reported as missing in action on 20 November 1943, the day of the initial landings on Betio. He was later declared dead as of that date. No further details of his death are known.
Burial Information or Disposition
No information recorded; remains not recovered. A memorial marker was erected in Cemetery 33, Grave 6, Row 2, Plot 11.
In 1974, an Australian construction crew laying a pipeline unearthed numerous human remains and the burned hulk of an amphibian tractor which had lain undisturbed for over thirty years. While most of the remains proved to be of Japanese or Korean ancestry, two were thought to be Caucasian – one found within the LVT itself, and the other, some 45 yards away, with an identification tag bearing Henry Verhaalen’s name.
Unfortunately, the remains were not segregated but were “highly commingled” in bags kept in a storage shed. The bones believed to be Verhaalen’s were originally kept in a separate box, but just before investigators arrived, they were dumped into another bag and the box taken away. This caused no end of frustration to the personnel assigned to investigate the case:
“It now seems [that] our whole operation was a complete disaster, and that nothing could be considered segregated to any great extent. The one bright spot here was the fact that the bones taken from the [LVT] were thought to have been kept segregated. This statement was made simply because of the color of the bones. The oil that was still within the vehicle had turned the bones a very dark color. These were in a separate bag but there is no indication that they were definitely kept segregated…. There was an aspirin bottle in the largest bag of remains (this was a large plastic bag about 3 feet high completely filled with bones) that [reportedly] came from the area where Verhaalen was found. We were told originally remains believed-to-be Verhaalen had been kept segregated but it seems that someone wanted the box he was in for another purpose.”
Anthropologists attempted to separate the remains and were able to reconstruct the “nearly complete skeletal remains of one individual… [of] Caucasoid racial origin and unique physical individuality.” Numerous personal effects and equipment were also located, which also suggested that this individual was an American battle casualty. The recovered bones were checked against the records of five missing Marines, including Verhaalen’s, but without conclusive results.
The case, designated CILHI 0003-79, was approved “unidentifiable” in 1981 and the remains were buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Next Of Kin Address
Address of father, Mr. John T. Verhaalen.
Location Of Loss
Private Verhaalen was killed in action at an unspecified location on Betio.
