Merrill George Burrows

PFC Merrill Burrows served with How Company, 8th Marines, in the campaign for Guadalcanal and the battle for Tarawa. He carried the tripod for a heavy machine gun, in a squad that included PFC John K. Mohrlang and PFC Patrick J. Gresk.

The amphibious assault on Betio, Tarawa atoll – Operation GALVANIC – commenced on 20 November 1943. The Second Battalion 8th Marines was given the job of assaulting the easternmost of three landing beaches – “Red 3” – and, once ashore, moving inland to quickly secure the airfield that covered much of the tiny island’s surface. A heavy and morale-boosting naval bombardment convinced many Marines that the task would be a simple one, and spirits were high at 0900 when their amphibious tractors started paddling for the beach.

The Japanese were quick to recover. Shells began bursting over the LVTs. “As the tractors neared the shore the air filled with the smoke and fragments of shells fired from 3-inch guns,” notes A Brief History of the 8th Marines. “Fortunately, casualties had been light on the way to the beach, but once the men dismounted and struggled to get beyond the beach, battle losses increased dramatically.” Most of the beach defenses were still intact, and these were supported by row after row of pillboxes, rifle pits, and machine gun nests.

Burrows, Mohrlang, and Gresk had the misfortune to be aboard one of the targeted LVTs. An airburst sprayed shrapnel across the area, damaging the vehicle and killing or wounding several Marines. While Mohrlang lived long enough to be evacuated (he later died and was buried at sea), it is likely that Burrows and Gresk never made it out of the LVT.

For more photos of Burrows and his buddies, and the story of the LVT, visit Tarawa On The Web.