Jefferson Davis Watson, Jr.
PFC Jefferson D. Watson, Jr. served with Peter Company, Fourth Marine Raider Battalion.
He was killed in action at Bairoko Harbor, New Georgia, on 20 July 1943.
Branch
Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 318782
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
May 27, 1924
at Rome, GA
Parents
Jefferson Davis Watson, Sr. (d. 1927)
Lucille L. (Graves) Watson
Education
Details unknown
Occupation & Employer
Student
Service Life
Entered Service
August 19, 1941
at Savannah, GA
Home Of Record
1540 Hubbard Street
Jacksonville, FL
Next Of Kin
Mother, Mrs. Lucille Watson
Military Specialty
Raider
Primary Unit
P/4th Raider Battalion
Campaigns Served
New Georgia
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
Jefferson Watson served with Company P, Fourth Marine Raider Battalion, during the New Georgia campaign. He saw his first combat during the fighting for Vura Village on 1 July 1943; by 12 July his battalion was back at Guadalcanal, pleased with their success and believing their part in the fighting over. Six days later, however, they were disembarking from transports at Enogai Inlet, reinforcing the First Raider Battalion and preparing for an assault on the Japanese stronghold at Bairoko Habor.
The attack began on 20 July 1943. The First and Fourth Raider Battalions, advancing along the Enogai-Bairoko Trail, formed the northern wing of the assault, with 3/148th Infantry supporting along the Triri-Bairoko trail to the south. “Between the two trails was tangled jungle and vile swampland, which we all knew meant there would be no opportunity for fancy maneuvering,” recalled Raider Marlin Groft (B/1st Raider Battalion). “When we attacked Bairoko it would be a desperate, head-on frontal assault.” At 1015, the Raiders hit the first Japanese outposts and pushed through with grenades and bayonets – only to run headlong into an impassible main line of resistance. “A wall of lead came at us from Nambus firmly placed in nests chiseled into the hard coral,” Groft continued. “Our advance was brought to a halt…. If combat men ever experienced a Hell on Earth, this was it.”
Peter Company was ordered to pass through the 1st Raiders and expand the fighting front, attacking to the southwest and then swinging north to push the Japanese defenders into a pocket. The company commander, Captain Anthony Walker, described the maneuver:
We attacked and broke the Jap outpost line.... We pushed on, taking casualties from nuseen enemy machine guns and rifles, finally reaching a ridgeline just in front of the enemy's main line of resistance. There I held the company up to reorganize.... Our attack at Bairoko was a thing of beauty. The company started out with a rebel yell that scared hell out of everyone within earshot, friend and foe. The Raiders of P Company kept going until I ordered them to stop at the ridge. If Colonel Griffith had not held us up, many [more] of us would have died trying to break the enemy's main line.
Captain Walker, who was badly wounded in the attack, kept one memory etched in his mind. “I never saw a dead Jap all afternoon. Only dead Marines.” By 1700 hours, high casualties and fading daylight forced the Raiders to withdraw back to Enogai.
The “screwed up affair” of Bairoko was the worst defeat ever inflicted on a Raider unit; the 4th Raider Battalion alone suffered 127 wounded and 29 killed in action. Among the dead were six members of Company P – including PFC Watson.
Burial Information or Disposition
Most of the Raiders killed in action at Bairoko were left in the field; evacuating the wounded took priority. In the days that followed, small American patrols ventured back to the battlefield to collect equipment and locate the fallen. They had some success, as noted in the 1st Raider Regiment’s war diary:
22 July 1943, 1200 – ENOGAI-BAIROKO patrol salvages communication gear, recovers some Blue [Amerian] dead, reports some Jap activity.
23 July 1943, 1200 – BAIROKO patrol buries 4 Marines, reports Jap activity.
24 July 1943, 1230 – BAIROKO patrol reports Jap defensive positions still manned, buries two dead Marines.
With Japanese troops active in the area, it was deemed to difficult and dangerous for a small patrol to carry remains back to Enogai, and thus they were buried in the field. More than a month would pass before a general retrieval and recovery effort could be made. Photographs of this process show Marines carrying blanket-wrapped bundles, suggesting an advanced state of decomposition. Individually identifying the dead would have been challenging, but was accomplished in most cases before burial in the Enogai cemetery. The dead Raiders were later moved from Enogai to the New Georgia Cemetery, and finally to the Finschaffen cemetery complex in New Guinea.
There is no known burial data for PFC Watson; his remains were listed as “not recovered.” PFC John K. Foley confirmed Watson’s death “in a fire fight with the enemy about two miles west of Enogai Point,” and stated that “removal of the body was impossible because of the intensity of enemy fire.” He may be buried as an unknown in Manila, or possibly still lie somewhere on the Dragons Peninsula.
Memorials
Next Of Kin Address
Address of mother, Mrs. Lucille Watson.
Location Of Loss
PFC Watson was killed in action near Bairoko (Mbaeroko), New Georgia.
