Robert Lester McCahill

Captain Robert L. McCahill served with How Company Company, Third Battalion, 27th Marines.
He was killed in action at Iwo Jima on 20 February 1945.
Branch
Marine Corps Regular
Service Number O-13120
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
This case is under Active Pursuit by DPAA
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
September 29, 1920
in Mason City, IA
Parents
William James McCahill
Louisa C. (Stradella) McCahill
Education
Whitefish Bay High School (1938)
Marquette University (1942)
Occupation & Employer
Enlisted from college
Service Life
Entered Service
March 4, 1942 (enlisted)
August 22, 1942 (commission)
Home Of Record
4016 West Silver Springs Drive
Milwaukee, WI
Next Of Kin
Wife, Mrs. Nancy B. McCahill
Military Specialty
Company Executive Officer
Individual Decorations
Bronze Star
Purple Heart (Iwo Jima)
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
Robert L. McCahill, one of the outstanding stars of Marquette University’s starting football team, turned down an offer to play professional ball in order to join the Marine Corps. He trained as a paratrooper after earning his commission and saw action in the northern Solomon Islands with the Third Marine Parachute Battalion. When the Paramarines disbanded, McCahill was reassigned to the newly formed 27th Marines and assumed the role of H Company executive officer.
BLT 3-27, including McCahill’s company, was in the regimental reserve for the landings on Iwo Jima. They came ashore at around 1130 and followed in the wake of BLT 2-27, which was pushing to reach the far side of the island. The battalion surgeon, Lieutenant James Vedder, wound up with the advancing troops and took shelter in a trench to wait for his men to catch up.
A few minutes later, elements of H Company began passing through my position in the trench… I spotted Captain McCahill a few yards away as he ascended the steep incline below me. He recognized me after I flashed a V-for-Victory hand greeting. He changed course and climbed into the trench beside me.
He shouted, “What are you doing up here, Doc? All your men are milling around back on the third terrace.”
I said, “I’m waiting for Knute to bring them up. The colonel told me to wait here until they arrive. How is it going so far?”
McCahill answered, “Not too bad. Today we cut the island in two. Tomorrow we mop them up.”
“That sounds great, Mac. We’ll have a big celebration when we get back to Honolulu.”
H Company moved on and disappeared over the top of the next embankment. Again I was left by myself.
– James Vedder, “Combat Surgeon Up Front With The Marines.”
After an uncomfortable night in a foxhole just behind the front lines, Vedder prepared his aid station for an influx of casualties and went to get “the latest dope” from BLT 3-27 headquarters. He recalled the following exchange with Major Frederick Mix, the exec:
“We are going to attack the bastards at 0800. After what they did to us last night, I hope we run them clear off the map.”
“Besides wrecking our howizters, what else did they do?”
“Christ, Doc, they clobbered us good. Besides dealing us a lot of casualties, they wiped out all of H Company’s headquarters personnel, including Captains Hall and McCahill. They are all dead.”
This came as. a real shocker. I managed to gulp out, “How did they come to get it all at one time?”
“It happened shortly before dawn. They were all huddled up in a big shell crater studying the battle plans for today. A large mortar shell landed on them and it got every one of them.”
– James Vedder
According to historian James Hallas in Uncommon Valor on Iwo Jima, the mortar claimed the lives of skipper Captain Ralph Hall, a radioman, two runners, and McCahill “who had been literally obliterated by the blast. The corpsmen and marines could find no trace of his body.”
Burial Information or Disposition
None; identifiable remains not recovered.
Memorials
Honolulu Memorial, Courts Of The Missing
Arlington National Cemetery
The Marquette University Robert L. McCahill Award is given in his honor.
Next Of Kin Address
Address of wife, Mrs. Nancy Byrne (Van Roo) McCahill
Location Of Loss
McCahill’s battalion was operating inland from the Red Beach area of Iwo Jima.