James Leroy Gibbs

James Gibbs joined Headquarters Company, 5th Marines immediately after completing boot camp in January 1942 and served as a runner for Colonel LeRoy Hunt. He landed at Guadalcanal in August 1942, and at some point after that was redesignated as a sniper. Gibbs may have trained with the “Whaling Unit” – a group of picked men who learned the arts of scouting, patrolling, and sniping from Lt. Col. William Whaling, the 5th Marines’ executive officer. These skilled fighters were assigned to special patrol duties as needed, acting alone or with Marines from other units.

On 20 November 1942, Gibbs was attached to the 1st Marines when his patrol came under fire from a well-entrenched Japanese machine gun.  Gibbs decided to advance alone, perhaps figuring one man would have a better chance of approaching undetected. Unfortunately, he was spotted and seriously wounded in the attempt. The rest of the patrol was unable to reach the fallen sniper and evidently had to leave him behind. He was officially reported as missing in action.

No identifiable trace of PFC Gibbs was ever found, and he was declared dead as of 21 November 1943. He received a posthumous Silver Star Medal for gallantry on Guadalcanal.