Oscar Eli Koskela
Corporal Oscar E. Koskela served with Headquarters Company, First Battalion, 29th Marines.
He died of wounds suffered at Saipan on 18 June 1944.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number 387915
Current Status
ACCOUNTED FOR
as of 8 June 2017
Recovery Organization
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Press Release
Capsule History
Oscar Eli Koskela was born in Detroit, Michigan, on 29 December 1921. He spent almost his entire youth in the city, along with parents Eli and Lempi “Grace” Koskela and younger brother Harold. Oscar attended Cass Technical High School and excelled at chemistry, mathematics, and electrical engineering. He enjoyed softball and singing in his church choir, but showed a deeper interest in radios and built several sets from spare parts in his spare time. When he graduated from Cass in January 1940, the Michigan Bell Telephone Company eagerly hired the budding protege as an equipment technician. Oscar spent two years working at the Hogarth Exchange, repairing switchboards and generators and earning a respectable $31 per week.
On 18 May 1942, Koskela enlisted in the Marine Corps and was sent to MCRD San Diego for boot camp. Although he qualified as a rifle sharpshooter, his previous employment and aptitude for electronics made him a candidate for radio school. Koskela excelled at his Signal Battalion training – so much so that he made Private First Class at graduation – and was assigned to duty with Battery D, 2nd Special Weapons Battalion. Within days of joining, he was on his way to Wellington, New Zealand.
While some elements of the 2nd Special Weapons Battalion fought on Guadalcanal, it is not immediately clear if Koskela’s platoon was among them. He continued to excel as a communications specialist, earning a promotion to corporal in the early months of 1943 while encamped in New Zealand. At some point, he was classed as a radio repairman – a role that may have saved him from the hell of Tarawa. When his battery embarked for Operation GALVANIC, Corporal Koskela was ordered to stay behind as part of the rear echelon. He would rejoin the survivors in Hawaii, at a rest camp that would be aptly named “Camp Tarawa.”
In January 1944, Corporal Koskela was transferred to the “Second Separate Infantry Battalion” attached to the V Amphibious Corps. Because they had no permanent regimental assignment, the battalion was considered an “orphan” unit – which the men started calling the “Bastard Battalion.” They would finally become the First Battalion, 29th Marines in May 1944 – while en route to the invasion of Saipan. The “Bastards” went ashore on Saipan’s Green Beach 2 on 15 June 1944 and were immediately hit by intense shell fire. For the next several days, they fought in support of the 8th Marines. Japanese artillery was a constant threat in the early part of the battle, and it is possible that one of those shells landed too close to Corporal Koskela on D+3.
Corporal Koskela’s battalion reported him “wounded in action and evacuated,” and telegrams were sent to Detroit with this news. However, it was soon noted that Koskela had not arrived at any rear-area hospital. On 26 October 1944, the Identification Section of the Personnel Department determined that the fingerprints of the unknown Marine who died aboard Solace matched Koskela’s service record. Unfortunately, there was no further information about his burial – the paper trail stopped when his body was sent ashore.
Koskela’s case attracted the attention of WFI Research Group and the Japan-based KUENTAI USA. In 2015, Ted Darcy of WFIRG submitted a case file suggesting that Koskela was a potential match for “Unknown X-50,” buried in the Fourth Marine Division Cemetery on Saipan. While it is not clear if Darcy’s recommendation led to the eventual exhumation of X-50, he was proved correct: Oscar Koskela was officially accounted for on 8 June 2017.
Memorials
Honolulu Memorial, Courts Of The Missing
As of 2024, Oscar Koskela is still awaiting final burial.
Next Of Kin Address
Address of parents, Eli and Grace Koskela.
Location Of Loss
Koskela was mortally wounded on Saipan and died aboard a hospital ship offshore.
