Hugh William Kellerman, Jr.

Hugh Kellerman was born in Abilene, Texas on 8 January 1926. He was the only son of Hugh and Bernice Kellerman. Hugh Senior worked in the oil fields as a drill supervisor, and in the mid-1930s the family moved from Texas to Huntington Beach, California.

Hugh started attending Fillmore High School in 1940, and was in the middle of his sophomore year when Pearl Harbor was attacked.

Hugh Kellerman volunteered for the Marine Corps on 19 February 1943, shortly after his seventeenth birthday. After completing boot camp at MCRD San Diego, he was assigned to a replacement battalion heading out to the Pacific.

Kellerman knew of the Marine Raiders by reputation, and when the opportunity came to volunteer he took the chance. He joined the ranks of Company F, Second Raider Battalion in the fall of 1943, shortly before the Bougainville campaign.

PFC Kellerman was killed in action along the Piva Trail on 9 November 1943. On that date, his company was attached to the Third Raider Battalion and instructed to push out beyond a road block. However, the Japanese defenders managed to spoil the Marine attack and caused several casualties early in the day’s fighting. Company F in particular was subjected to “heavy, short-range rifle and machine-gun fire from concealed Japanese positions.”

Kellerman fell victim to one such position; he was shot several times through the abdomen by a Japanese machine gun and died on the muddy jungle floor. He was buried near the spot where he fell, but the grave was destroyed when engineers moved in to widen the trail into a usable road.

PFC Kellerman’s remains were never recovered or identified from the Piva Trail area.

CENOTAPHS
Manila American Cemetery and Memorial
Kellerman’s name appears on a servicemen’s memorial outside the Huntington Beach City Hall.