Lambert Lane
Corporal Lambert Lane served with Baker Company, Second Amphibian Tractor Battalion.
He was reported missing in action at Betio, Tarawa atoll, on 20 November 1943.
Branch
Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 381713
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
This case is under Active Pursuit by the DPAA.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
August 14, 1921
at Lorena, MS
Parents
William D. Lane (d. 1936)
Lilla (Husband) Lane
Education
Forest High School
Mississippi State
Bowling Green University
Occupation & Employer
Mississippi Power & Light Co.
Service Life
Entered Service
March 2, 1942
at Jackson, MS
Home Of Record
Forest, MS
Next Of Kin
Mother, Mrs. Lilla Lane
Military Specialty
Radio Operator
Amphibian Tractor
Primary Unit
B/2nd Amphtrac Bn.
Campaigns Served
Tarawa
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
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Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
Corporal Lambert Lane served as an LVT radio operator with Company B, Second Amphibian Tractor Battalion, during the battle of Tarawa. He was reported missing in action on 20 November 1943, and later officially declared dead as of that date. Marine Corps casualty files give his cause of death as “gunshot wound, temple.”
Additional research by Jim Hildebrand of “Tarawa1943” indicates that Corporal Lane volunteered to drive an LVT-1 tractor from the USS Feland to Green Beach on the night of 21 November 1943. The LVT struck a mine, killing Corporal Lane and others on board, potentially including Captain Thomas B. Royster, Corporal Howard L. Bryant, and several other Marines and corpsmen rescued from the water just minutes earlier.
For more information on this event , read Hildebrand’s essay “The Green Beach LVT Mystery.”
Burial Information or Disposition
No information recorded; remains not recovered.
Tarawa veteran Norman E. Ward (formerly 2Lt. Ward, 2nd Amphtrac Bn.) reported retrieving four bodies – including Lane and Captain Thomas B. Royster – from the water near a destroyed LVT-1, and burying them in a shallow grave near Green Beach. The exact location is no longer known.
A memorial grave was erected in Cemetery 33, Grave 3, Row 2, Plot 7.
Next Of Kin Address
Address of mother, Mrs. Lilla Lane.
Location Of Loss
Corporal Lane was reportedly last seen during landing operations near Green Beach, Betio.
