James Robert Walters
PFC James R. Walters served with Baker Company, First Battalion, 7th Marines.
He was killed in action at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on 24 September 1942.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number 354210
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
This case is under Active Pursuit by the DPAA.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
December 29, 1917
at Syracuse, NY
Parents
Harry Jay Walters
Ruth (Eastwood) Walters
Education
Onondaga Valley Academy
Occupation & Employer
Southern Oil Company
Service Life
Entered Service
January 21, 1942
at Syracuse, NY
Home Of Record
201 Fillmore Avenue
Syracuse, NY
Next Of Kin
Parents, Harry & Ruth Walters
Military Specialty
—
Primary Unit
B/1/7th Marines
Campaigns Served
Guadalcanal
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
On 24 September 1942 – six days after arriving on Guadalcanal – the First Battalion, 7th Marines departed from the Lunga Perimeter and headed out into Guadalcanal’s backcountry. They followed a trail known as the “Maizuru Road” which had served as a Japanese advance and retreat route during the battle for Edson’s Ridge. The battalion commander, Lt. Col. Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller, hoped to cross the Matanikau River at an undefended point, then advance along the Japanese-held bank to outflank enemy fortifications. This maneuver was a crucial part of a planned offensive scheduled to begin on 26 September.
After an exhausting day-long hike, the battalion reached a stream bed and began searching for a suitable bivouac. While the rearguard (Company C and Company D) occupied a defendable hill, Companies A and B advanced to the riverbank and sent scouts into the woods beyond. They ran into a Japanese detachment and were caught in a murderous crossfire from multiple machine gun positions.
[My] platoon of B Company had taken up defense in the stream, where the banks were about four feet high. I gave orders [to] to move out of the stream and up the bank. Just as we cleared the stream, two machine guns opened up on us. Some of us rolled back into the water, others lay flat, and got behind anything they could find. I rolled over behind a tree. The firing had us pinned down. Bullets were spraying everywhere.
On Puller’s command, Baker Company tried to rush forward in a pincer maneuver to outflank the guns – but the Japanese fire was too heavy and several Marines were shot down, including platoon leader 2Lt. Walter Olliff and acting company commander 1Lt. Alvin C. Cockrell, Jr. With darkness quickly approaching, Puller decided to withdraw his men to the rearguard position at “Hill X,” several hundred yards to the rear. The Marines gathered their wounded, but had to leave the dead on the field for the time being.
PFC James R. Walters was hit by machine gun fire during the skirmish. While the exact circumstances of his death are not known, it appears that he was carried back to the battalion aid station on “Hill X” but died of his wounds during the night.
Burial Information or Disposition
Early on 25 September, Puller’s men set out to locate and bury their friends. The ten fatal casualties were buried in two groups of five – one on “Hill Y,” the other on “Hill X.” James Walters was the fourth man buried in the Hill X location.
The battalion departed soon after the final grave was dug: two companies returned to the perimeter with the wounded, while Puller pressed on with Company C and reinforcements from 2/5th Marines. The remote location was rarely, if ever, seen by American troops for the rest of the battle.
Two post-war expeditions (1947 and 1949) failed to locate the graves of Puller’s men, and all were declared non-recoverable.
The Hill X and Hill Y sites were prioritized by the DPAA starting in 2012. Subsequent archaeological digs have returned possible remains, identification tags, and additional material evidence from the area. To date, no official identification of PFC Walters has been announced.
Next Of Kin Address
Address of parents, Harry & Ruth Walters.
Location Of Loss
Approximate location of Hill X – now the outskirts of Honiara, Guadalcanal.
Related Profiles
Buried in the field, Hills X and Y, as result of Maizuru Ambush.
Leaving Mac Behind: The Lost Marines of Guadalcanal
Willie Rowe, or someone who sounded a lot like Willie, was crying in the darkness.
PFC Gerald White could not blame Willie. He felt a bit like crying himself. His battalion of the 7t Marines left the Lunga perimeter full of fight, ready to prove they were no Johnny-come-lately laggards but the warriors who would turn the tide on Guadalcanal. Now they were a “weary and dejected band” dug in on a nameless hill overlooking an unfamiliar stream, an anonymous location with no known landmarks save those they named themselves. The field where Fuller found the cooking fire; the ridge their guns were on; the tree where Goble hid; the trail where Randolph died.
Unremarkable places, except that men bled for them.
Read more about the Maizuru Ambush in "Leaving Mac Behind."
Click the cover for details.