James Thomas Davis

PFC James T. Davis served with Company A, First Battalion, 8th Marines in the Solomon Islands campaign and in the battle for 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.”

PFC Davis managed to survive the landing and a full day of combat on Betio, but on 22 November 1943 he suffered a gunshot wound in the right hip. A corpsman preformed quick triage, but the wound was severe enough to require Davis’ evacuation. Battalion casualty reports noted his departure, and the monthly muster roll indicated he was “sick [in] hospital” effective 22 November. His service record book indicated that he had reached the transport USS Doyen “for further treatment and disposition.”

However, nothing more was ever heard from James Davis. He never arrived at a rear area hospital, and it seems he never even reached the Doyen. Tracers were sent to determine his whereabouts, but Davis could not be found. A presumptive finding of death was issued on 23 November 1944, and to this day the exact circumstances of James Davis’ disappearance remain a mystery.