Palmer Sherman Haraldson

Palmer was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on 18 August 1912. He was the second child of Aad Sven “Eddie” Haraldson and Nelsena “Lena” (Anderson) Haraldson; shortly after Palmer’s birth, his parents relocated to the small city of Manson in their native Iowa. Their family grew quickly: in a few short years, Theresa and Palmer were joined by Laverna, Alvin, Henry, and Virginia. The Haraldsons attended St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Madison, and the kids went to the local schools. Palmer finished his sophomore year before ending his education.

By 1930, the older Haraldson children were ready to leave the nest. When the family moved to Panora, seventeen-year-old Palmer and eighteen-year-old Theresa – now Mrs. Mabel Theresa Case – rented rooms in Fort Dodge. Palmer would spend the next several years in Fort Dodge, but also felt the call of California. By the summer of 1937 he was living in LA with a native Angeleno named Veronica Patricia Savage; the two were married in Glendale on 8 October 1937.

The Haraldsons rented an apartment at 119¾ South Avenue 19, just a block from the Los Angeles River. Palmer found work as a packer at a Thrifty Drug Store warehouse on 1340 East 7th Street. He added tattoos – a woman’s head on his right arm, and a dotted line around his neck. The registrar for Los Angeles Draft Board No. 198 noted these distinguishing marks when Palmer registered on 16 October 1940.

The Thrifty chain offered “pleasant permanent employment” with “opportunity for advancement” and “frequent, automatic salary increases.” A packer’s pay was just enough to keep a family of two above the poverty line, but Palmer was a diligent worker. The promised promotion arrived eventually, and by 1942, he was working as an ordering clerk. Palmer might have stayed on at Thrifty indefinitely – but in early 1943, Selective Service came calling.

Thirty-year-old Palmer was inducted into the armed forces on 26 February 1943. He opted to join the Marine Corps – and, perhaps seeing a new career opportunity, signed on for a four-year tour as a regular instead of the Reserves.

Private Haraldson qualified as a rifle sharpshooter at MCRD San Diego, and underwent advanced infantry training at Camp Elliott. He was able to visit Patricia on liberty, and the two sat for a portrait together before Palmer’s orders sent him overseas with the 22nd Replacement Battalion. He arrived in New Zealand in the summer of 1943 and was assigned to Company C, First Battalion, 6th Marines as a replacement.

Haraldson had a few more weeks of training, and a few chances to experience liberty in Wellington, before boarding the USS Feland and setting sail for his first – and last – experience in combat.

Private Haraldson’s battalion landed on the island of Betio, Tarawa atoll, on the night of 21 November 1943. The battalion arrived ashore at Green Beach in rubber boats, and prepared for a morning attack to the east which would turn the flank of Japanese positions and help establish contact between hard-hit and depleted units still trapped along the Red beaches.


Charlie Company led the assault the next morning, attacking “viciously and rapidly” according to battalion commander Major William K. Jones, and killing an estimated 250 Japanese troops. The Marines suffered comparatively few casualties, but the blistering heat took a toll, and by noon Charlie Company was resting in battalion reserve.


At 1500 hours, Major Jones detached Charlie Company to relieve the Second Battalion, 8th Marines near Beach Red 3. After refilling his canteens and accepting some salt tablets, Private Haraldson crossed over the Betio runway to take up his new position and prepare for an evening defense. Tragically, he would not live to see the battle’s end. At some point during the afternoon or evening of 22 November 1943, Palmer Haraldson was shot in the head and killed. Unfortunately, no other details about his final moments are known.

Haraldson was buried the following day in a long trench inland from Beach Red 3. He was the third of more than forty men laid down in “8th Marines Cemetery #2” – better known as “Cemetery 27” – and the only member of the 6th Marines reported killed in the area.

In 1944, the original grave markers were taken down and a large memorial cross was installed in the vicinity. Unfortunately, the memorial was far enough from the burial trench that post-war searches were unable to discover the bodies. Private Haraldson was declared permanently non-recoverable in 1949.

Cemetery 27 was finally discovered in 2015, following years of research and an archeological dig led by the non-profit organization History Flight. Remains still wrapped in ponchos, wearing helmets and boondockers, and still in possession of personal effects were discovered in the exact positions where they were buried in 1943.

Author Clay Bonnyman Evans (whose grandfather, 1Lt. Alexander Bonnyman, was buried in Cemetery 27) was present for the excavation of “Individual #3.” In his book Bones Of My Grandfather, Evans related helping to clean a brass watch found in the grave. “I noticed that ‘PSH’ and ‘C-1-6’ had been scratched into the cover,” he wrote. Dental comparison in the field strongly suggested that Individual #3 was Palmer Sherman Haraldson, and the supposition was officially confirmed on 25 April 2016.

Later that year, Palmer Haraldson was returned to his family for burial in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

CENOTAPHS
Honolulu Memorial, Tablets of the Missing

FINAL BURIAL
Fort Dodge Memorial Park, Webster County, Iowa