John Eddy Gillen

John Eddy was born on 13 April 1923, the son of Anna Gillen and her husband, Jasper, a mechanic in the city of Olney. He grew up in Olney, and was ten years old before his first sibling, Gerald Gillen, arrived. In 1935, shortly after little Maxine arrived, the family moved to Champaign. Here, John attended junior and senior high school and found his first job as a drug store clerk. He appears to have entertained dreams of a military career as a teenager, for he attended a Citizen’s Military Training Camp at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, in 1938. The CMTC promised:

to bring together young men of high type from all sections of the country on a common basis of equality and under the most favorable conditions of outdoor life; to stimulate and promote citizenship, patriotism, and Americanism; and, through expert physical direction, athletic coaching, and military training, to benefit the young men individually, and bring them to realize their obligations to their country.

Gillen spent a summer month at Camp Cornelius C. Fredericks successfully completing the “Basic” course, although he was two years under the stated minimum age of seventeen.

His next foray into military life would be the real deal. On 10 February 1942, Gillen enlisted in the Marine Corps at Chicago and was sent off to the San Diego recruit depot for boot camp. He emerged as Private Gillen, with the coveted Eagle, Globe, and Anchor insignia and a silver sharpshooter’s badge to show for his efforts. In early April, he was assigned to Company D, First Battalion, 6th Marines as a machine gunner. The 6th had recently returned from a deployment to Iceland and were training up to fight in the Pacific – a process that would take several months. During this spell in California, Gillen learned how to operate as part of a heavy machine gun squad and grew close to some of the other Marines in his company. He also earned a promotion to Private First Class before departing for New Zealand in October 1942.

John Gillen saw his first combat on Guadalcanal; he spent a month on the island from January to February 1943. Although the campaign itself was winding down, the 6th Marines still saw action – heavy, at times – and suffered several casualties to enemy bullets and tropical disease. Gillen managed to escape any serious mishap, and in the meantime demonstrated his proficiency with the heavy machine gun. By the end of the battle, he was serving as the gunner for his squad. The 6th Marines returned to New Zealand in late February for a well-earned break, followed by additional months of training and maneuvers. In October, they sailed again – heading for the Gilbert Islands and Operation “GALVANIC.”

Gillen’s company landed on Betio in the Tarawa Atoll on the night of 21 November 1943, or “D-plus-One.” The debris of battle was all around; within a few hours of landing, they’d dodged mines (and seen an LVT flipped like a toy when one went off) and bombs from Japanese aircraft. In the morning, the sun rose and turned the white sands as hot as a blast furnace. The First Battalion advanced along Betio’s “Black” beaches, hitting the Japanese on the flanks as other units continued pushing from the front. Gradually, they shoved the defenders back into the “bird’s tail” of the island. Resistance grew during the day, and in the late afternoon, the Marines were ordered to halt and prepare defensive positions. They would continue – and hopefully conclude – the attack in the morning.

The Japanese were not about to give them the chance. Private Wayland Stevens of D Company recalled that a counterattack materialized as the tired Marines were trying to get organized. Crucially, they had not had time to emplace the heavy machine guns – cornerstones of their defensive arrangement.

We were waiting for orders to get our positions when the counterattack began. We all hit the deck and started for cover. At that time, [PFC Elden R.] Baumbach was killed, and at the same time [PFC Clarence E.] Drumheiser was killed. John Gillen set up his gun and after firing a few bursts he was also killed and one of the other fellows took over, and he was wounded and had to leave and then I moved over and took over.

At that time, I saw on the side of the bunker one of the squads trying to set up their gun and after a few seconds I saw one of the boys go down by machine gun fire, and later learned it was the boy [PFC Robert J.] Hatch. At this time I was relieved of the gun and sent to help another squad.

Sitting behind the machine gun, PFC Gillen was a primary target for the onrushing attackers. When his body was found the next morning, onlookers noticed a bullet hole in his right chest and multiple shell fragment wounds. Private Stevens recalled how he and a handful of other Marines identified and buried the remains of their buddies Baumbach, Drumheiser, Hatch, Jacob Cruz, Jack Hill, and John Gillen

Several of the boys in the platoon went up and picked up the boys that were killed and buried them in the same location, leaving one dog tag on the body and the other on the marker that we placed on the grave.

We dug the graves just about four feet deep and before burying any of the boys, we searched them for their personal effects and also to make sure they had identification tags.

At the time we buried them, we found ourselves some trash wood that we inserted into the ground and then finding some old mess gear we scratched in the names of the dead boys on the mess gear and hung this equipment over the board that signified the grave of the Marine dead. One of the identification tags we left on the body and the other dog tag we just loosely hung the chain over the top of the board and just placed the mess gear bearing the scratched identity of the deceased on that.

This burial site, known as “Gilbert Island Cemetery” or “Row D, East Division Cemetery” was the resting place for several dozen Marines. Unfortunately, it was obliterated during base construction in 1944, and the original site was lost and forgotten.

The “Row D” burial site went undiscovered until the spring of 2019, when an archaeological expedition led by non-profit organization History Flight excavated the site and recovered human remains.

John Gillen was identified from the History Flight recovery and officially accounted for on 16 April 2020.

CENOTAPHS
Honolulu Memorial, Tablets of the Missing
Arlington National Cemetery

FINAL BURIAL
Grandview Memorial Cemetery, Champaign, Illinois