Joseph John Seymour
Private Joseph J. Seymour served with Dog Company, First Battalion, 5th Marines.
He was killed in action near Point Cruz, Guadalcanal, on 1 November 1942.
Branch
Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 354398
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered.
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
August 9, 1919
at Ilion, NY
Parents
William Seymour
Margaret (Kenefick) Seymour
Education
Ilion High School (1937)
Occupation & Employer
Delco Appliance Division
General Motors
Service Life
Entered Service
February 11, 1942
at Syracuse, NY
Home Of Record
75 North 3rd Avenue
Ilion, NY
Next Of Kin
Father, Mr. William Seymour
Military Specialty
Machine Gunner
Primary Unit
D/1/5th Marines
Campaigns Served
Guadalcanal
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
On 1 November 1942, the 5th Marines opened the “Matanikau Offensive” by forcing their way across Guadalcanal’s Matanikau River. Their First Battalion crossed near the river’s mouth using footbridges built under cover of darkness, and began advancing west at 0630 hours. The first two hours passed without opposition – but the morning would not stay quiet for long.
At 0840, Charlie Company reported receiving machine gun fire from their front and right flank. Casualties mounted quickly as the Marines attempted to break through a well-camouflaged Japanese defensive line running through a ravine west of Point Cruz. Machine gun sections from Dog Company deployed to provide supporting fire, but quickly became targets themselves.
Minutes before the firing started, Corporal Anthony Casamento – a Dog Company section leader – assigned objectives to his two squads. One would head to the left of a small ridge, while the other hooked around to the right. Casamento stayed with the right-hand squad, under Corporal Lewis Robarts. They soon found themselves in enemy crosshairs. “We were at the head of the column and were cut off by very heavy fire coming from [Japanese] coral fortifications,” recalled the assistant gunner, Private Michael Ciavarelli. “Our squad was surrounded completely by the enemy and we found ourselves under very heavy machine gun and mortar fire that the Japanese were laying down continuously.”
Private Joseph Seymour, the gunner in Robarts’ squad, was responsible for laying down the weapon’s tripod when ready to fire. The first burst of Japanese fire mortally wounded Corporal Robarts; Privates Seymour and Ciavarelli were hit moments later. With the top three men in the squad out of action, Corporal Casamento took over the gun.
If those snipers were hot before, they were sizzling now. It was awful. We're setting up this machine gun and the place is alive with Japanese. They're popping out everywhere. They had their guns all over the place, their mortars up in front, and the shells were whizzing around like bees.... They weren't fooling. They got every one of my fourteen men, killed or wounded them.
Although grievously wounded several times over, Casamento managed to take out an enemy machine gun and prevented a counterattack. “All of his men and those of C Company in his sector were dead or wounded,” reported Second Lieutenant Richard F. Nellson. “Casamento was riddled by small arms fire but was still at his gun. It was easy to see that by keeping his gun in action and by keeping the enemy pinned down”that he had held the position, otherwise it would have been overrun.”
Help came too late for Private Seymour; he was one of ten Dog Company Marines to lose his life as a result of the day’s attack.
Burial Information or Disposition
On November 2, 1942, 1/5 began to gather its dead. Of the thirty-nine fatalities reported on the previous day, nine were interred in the 1st Marine Division Cemetery. Some of these died of wounds on their way to the hospital. The remainder – thirty enlisted men – were all buried in the field. The same location was recorded for each man: “About 400 yards west of Point Cruz, about 600 yards inland from the sea, on the island of Guadalcanal.” Thirty markers in a small area must have been an arresting sight – and, one would presume, a highly visible one. Yet to this day, only seven of these Marines have ever been located, and the exact location of the rest is still a mystery.
Next Of Kin Address
Home address of father, Mr. William Seymour.
Location Of Loss
Approximate location of the burial site near Point Cruz.
