Kenneth Joseph Whelan

PFC Kenneth Whelan participated in the campaigns for the Solomon Islands as a member of E/2/5th Marines. By mid-September 1942, he was a veteran of landings on Tulagi, combat patrols on Guadalcanal, and the battle for Edson’s Ridge.

On September 25, Whelan’s battalion was ordered to saddle up and head into the boondocks to support a friendly combat patrol. They were placed under the temporary command of LtCol. Lewis “Chesty” Puller, and patrolled west towards the Matanikau River. The next morning, Easy Company led the way north towards the river’s mouth, where they would attempt to cross.

The Japanese stayed quiet until Easy Company’s point platoon started across a sandbar – and then opened fire with concentrated mortar and machine gun fire. Easy halted and fell back to the eastern bank, setting up protective positions and “developing” the situation with their own automatic weapons. For the rest of the day, they supported unsuccessful attempts to cross the sandbar. The action would become known as the Second Battle of the Matanikau.

Two Easy Company Marines – PFC Robert G. Fraser and PFC Kenneth Whelan – were killed on 26 September. Fraser’s body was returned to the Marine cemetery for burial; Whelan’s were not.