Joseph Francis Smith
PFC Joseph F. Smith served with Fox Company, Second Battalion, 5th Marines.
He was killed in action near Point Cruz, Guadalcanal, on 3 November 1942.
Branch
Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 332048
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered.
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
March 15, 1920
at Boston, MA
Parents
Peter Andrew Smith
Mary Ellen (Hedrington) Smith
Education
Saugus High School
Occupation & Employer
Sutcliff Storage Company
Service Life
Entered Service
December 18, 1941
at Boston, MA
Home Of Record
16 Golden Hills Road
Saugus, MA
Next Of Kin
Mother, Mrs. Mary E. Smith
Military Specialty
—
Primary Unit
F/2/5th Marines
Campaigns Served
Solomon Islands / Guadalcanal
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
The third day of November 1942 marked the third day of a combined Marine-Army push to the west along Guadalcanal’s northern coast. Ambitious planners hoped to seize the Japanese base at Kokumbona, but an unexpectedly fierce defense by the Imperial Army’s 4th and 124 Infantry Regiments inflicted heavy casualties and stunted progress. The 5th Marines faced an especially tough challenge from Colonel Nomasu Nakaguma’s 4th Infantry entrenched around the base of Point Cruz. Two days of fierce fighting, including an unusual American bayonet charge, finally trapped the surviving Japanese infantry in a constricted pocket west of the Point.
The task of eliminating the final resistance fell to the Second Battalion, 5th Marines. Easy and George Companies advanced north towards the ravine where most of the Japanese troops sheltered, while Fox Company took up positions to the west, blocking the enemy’s retreat. As the pocket constricted, Fox Company joined in the final assault. Second Lieutenant Paul Moore, a platoon leader in F/2/5, recalled:
This was on the third of November, 1942. We came down the line of skirmishers. One person would walk abreast of another, not actually walking but crawling and then some jumping up and running and hitting the deck behind a log or in some protected place – the front platoons would advance in that fashion. We had some supporting artillery before we went down, some mortar fire, and then we had automatic weapons giving us fire cover as we approached the beach. We got within a hundred yards of the beach, just short of the road.... It was a rather open area, with just a log or two here or there, and so my men started getting lacerated by machine guns, Japanese machine guns. I lost four or five men and two or three others wounded, so the platoon was down to about seven men at this point and the platoon sergeant and I were still going.... I got up and threw a hand grenade into the machine gun nest and, as I ducked back, got shot.
The skirmishers went on down to the beach and wound up in a bayonet fight with the Japanese, whom they finally pushed back into the sea. Others were killed. There was a terrible slaughter of Japanese and the battle was finally concluded.
PFC Joseph Smith was one of four Fox Company Marines killed in the final assault on the Point Cruz pocket. Newspaper articles report that he was cited “for conspicuous gallantry under fire,” but no citations or specific details about his fate are known.
Burial Information or Disposition
Smith was reportedly buried near the beach trail “immediately west of Matanikau River, Guadalcanal,” along with corpsman PhM3c Kenneth W. Durant and three other Marines from his company: Martin E. Kirschbaum, Jr., Antonio Danebro, and Charles Sviatoha. This was a well-traveled track familiar to both sides – and the scene of much heavy fighting.
It is also possible that the record keepers noted the wrong location. Fox Company’s position was to the west of a waterway beyond Point Cruz, described as “a small creek with muddy banks that dropped two to four feet down to the water’s edge.” Although much smaller than the Matanikau, this unnamed stream was an important terrain feature in the Point Cruz fighting and a clerical error or misunderstanding may have confused the two.
Subsequent fighting over the beach trail likely destroyed any traces of the graves; none of the remains were ever recovered.
Memorials
Next Of Kin Address
Address of parents, Peter & Mary Smith.
Location Of Loss
Smith was killed in action near Point Cruz, Guadalcanal.
