Raymond John Tuhey

Raymond was the second child of Michael Aloysius and Loretta (Longmore) Tuhey. He was born in Chicago on 1 August 1919 and spent his earliest years in the Windy City – but the village of Lombard offered more space for the growing family, and they resettled during the 1920s. The Tuheys raised their five children on South Lombard Street, supported by Michael’s work as a plumbing company foreman.

Little information about Raymond’s life before the war is publicly available. He finished four years of high school, and in 1940 was working as a general helper at a local Lombard tavern.

A few weeks after his twenty-first birthday, Tuhey volunteered for a four-year hitch in the regular Marine Corps. He enlisted in Chicago on 24 September 1940, and was soon on his way to boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego.

After completing boot camp, Private Tuhey was assigned to duty with Company M, Third Battalion, 8th Marines. He trained with this heavy weapons outfit through the winter of 1940-1941, and in the spring took part in the regiment’s record-setting 180-mile Cuyamaca Hike. Tuhey’s prowess was noted by his officers, and in April 1941 he received a promotion to Private First Class.

Shortly thereafter, a call went out for volunteers to join the 6th Marines. Rumor had it that the regiment would be heading overseas. Several members of the 8th Marines wanted to see more action and less California scenery. A transfer was granted to PFC Tuhey, and he reported to his new command – Baker Company, First Battalion, 6th Marines – for transport overseas. The destination was not quite what the hard-charging volunteers expected: they were not off to fight the Germans, but to garrison Iceland. Instead of standing guard in San Diego, they stood guard in the freezing cold of Reykjavik. The greatest danger that befell PFC Tuhey in Iceland was slicing his finger on a tin of potatoes – an accident he reported to sick bay, and which was entered in the company muster roll. In the ultimate irony, he would be on the wrong side of the world when Pearl Harbor was attacked.

The thrill of being overseas and closer to the shooting war quickly wore off as garrison duty turned from routine to drudgery. There was little to do in Iceland; the Germans were not going to invade, nor was there much in the way of liberty. The 6th would not return to California until the spring of 1942, by which time the Pacific war was underway. The regiment turned in their distinctive polar bear patches, drew their new field uniforms, and began training to deploy to the other side of the globe. Their time would come in October 1942 with a sea voyage to New Zealand, and on to the Solomon islands in January 1943.

The 6th Marines joined in the battle of Guadalcanal during the later stages and fought through to the end of the campaign.  Tuhey survived the battle without wounds or injury and departed for New Zealand in February of 1943. He would spent the next several months recuperating, enjoying liberty, and most of all training for the next operation – which turned out to be the invasion of Betio in the Tarawa atoll.

Corporal Tuhey’s company 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.

After a day of exhausting fighting, Baker Company dug in and prepared a night defense. They were in an exposed position, and that night a force of several hundred Japanese troops hit their lines, breaking through in a few places and causing chaos and mayhem through the night and into the early morning hours of 22 November. Ultimately, the Marines held, but paid a stiff price for maintaining their positions.

Raymond Tuhey survived the chaos and confusion of the banzai charge, but unfortunately would not live to see the end of the battle. On 23 November 1943, he suffered fatal gunshot wounds to the head – becoming the last member of Baker Company to die on the island of Betio.

Later that day, Tuhey and nearly thirty other men – many from his own First Battalion, 6th Marines – were laid to rest in a trench grave near where they fell. He was the seventh man buried in this location, called “Gilbert Islands Cemetery” by the 6th Marines, and “East Division Cemetery, Row D” by Graves Registration. The mass grave was later destroyed or built over, rendering the remains of all buried there non-recoverable.

The “Row D” burial site went undiscovered until the spring of 2019, when an archaeological expedition led by non-profit organization History Flight excavated the site and recovered human remains.

Raymond Tuhey was identified from the History Flight recovery and officially accounted for on 20 April 2020.

CENOTAPHS
Honolulu Memorial, Tablets of the Missing

FINAL BURIAL
Arlington National Cemetery