Joseph Martin Maciejewski
PFC Joseph M. Maciejewski served with Charlie Company, First Battalion, 1st Marine Parachute Regiment (Paramarines).
He was killed in action at Bougainville on 1 January 1944.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number 498755
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
November 14, 1922
at Chicago, IL
Parents
Stanley J. Maciejewski
Apolonia “Pauline” (Hyrzy) Maciejewski
Education
Kelly High School (1940?)
Occupation & Employer
Wyckoff Drawn Steel Company
Service Life
Entered Service
November 23, 1942
at Chicago, IL
Home Of Record
2828 West 39th Place
Chicago, IL
Next Of Kin
Mother, Mrs. Pauline Maciejewski
Military Specialty
Parachutist
Primary Unit
C/1st Paramarines
Campaigns Served
Bougainville
Individual Decorations
Bronze Star
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
Joseph Maciejewski, a Chicago steelworker born to Polish immigrant parents, participated in the Bougainville campaign as a member of the elite “Paramarines.” He deployed to the island in early November 1943; by the end of the year, only a few Marine units remained on Bougainville and fewer still were engaged in active combat. In Silk Chutes and Hard Fighting: U.S. Marine Corps Parachute Units in WWII, historian Jon T. Hoffman notes that “the 1st [Parachute] Battalion conducted aggressive patrols” against Japanese positions near the Torokina River during this time. Hoffman’s work states that the “only serious contact” occurred on 28 December 1943, as Company A attacked and destroyed a series of 8 pillboxes in quick succession. However, this was not the battalion’s last engagement along the Torokina.
On New Year’s Day 1944, Company C, First Marine Parachute Regiment became embroiled in a heavy firefight along the Torokina River near “coordinates 134.22 – 210.11, IMAC Hasty Terrain Map Sheet #180, Second Edition.” Their foes, once again, were Japanese troops in heavily fortified positions – and while the defenders were ultimately overwhelmed, they extracted a heavy toll from the Paramarines. Among the Americans who lost their lives in this action was PFC Maciejewski; he was shot in the back while rushing a Japanese bunker, and died of his wounds at 1530 hours.
Maciejewski received a posthumous Bronze Star Medal for valor during this engagement.
Burial Information or Disposition
Charlie Company suffered over twenty casualties in this engagement, including a chief pharmacist’s mate. Evacuating the wounded was the top priority; by necessity, the bodies of the dead – PFC Maciejewski, Corporal Dudley J. Sommerkamp, PFC Glenn M. Gibb, PFC Harry E. Neeshan, and Corporal William Y. Wishart – were left on the field of battle. Even so, one of the wounded – PFC Emile J. R. Cote – later died of his injuries at an Army hospital.
American units revisited the battlefield at an unknown date, and recovered at least one set of remains – unidentifiable at the time, but duly interred in a military cemetery. In 1949, this body was identified as Corporal “Billie” Wishart. It is not clear if any other remains were found at the battlefield; the four other Marines killed in action have never been accounted for.
Memorials
Next Of Kin Address
Address of mother, Mrs. Apolonia “Pauline” Maciejewski.
Location Of Loss
Maciejewski was killed in the vicinity of the Torokina River, Bougainville.
