Robert Jean Harvey

Second Lieutenant Robert J. Harvey led the Second Platoon of Company A, First Battalion, 2nd Marines in the battle of Tarawa. He brought his platoon ashore under heavy fire at Red Beach One at about noon on 20 November 1943. Despite heavy casualties, the company managed to secure a tenuous foothold and Harvey helped to organize the survivors into a nighttime defense.

The following day, Companies A, B, and E attacked to the south in a wild charge that carried them across Betio’s main airfield. Author Eric Hammel describes the reception Harvey’s platoon received:

The platoon took off in single file, zig-zagging for a large shell hole in the center of the runway. The Japanese hit it then with three machine guns, two to the right and one to the left. The effect was devastating. Many of Harvey’s men were mowed down in the open. The survivors, numbering only 12, dived into a five-foot-deep shell hole and kept down.

Lieutenant Harvey managed to reach the shell hole. The Japanese fusillade died down, and after a few moments of quiet, Harvey decided to take a look. Hammel continues:

After a while, Harvey became curious about the lull and rose to peer over the edge of the trench. He stayed up with his head exposed for a few moments, then slowly returned to the bottom of the cut, bleeding profusely from a hole in his forehead. Without uttering a sound, Bob Harvey died in a few moments.

(Eric Hammel & John E. Lane, 76 Hours)

Harvey was posthumously promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant.