Robert Walter Wieman
PFC Robert W. Weiman served with Able Company, First Battalion, 22nd Marines.
He was killed in action at Engebi, Eniwetok atoll, on 18 February 1944.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number 366297
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
This case is under Active Pursuit by the DPAA
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
December 26, 1921
at St. Louis, MO
Parents
Charles Samuel Wieman
Viola Dell (Gray) Wieman
Education
Details unknown
Occupation & Employer
Clerk
International Shoe Company
Service Life
Entered Service
March 7, 1942
at St. Louis, MO
Home Of Record
5922 Goodfellow Avenue
St. Louis, MO
Next Of Kin
Mother, Mrs. Viola Wieman
Military Specialty
—
Primary Unit
A/1/22nd Marines
Campaigns Served
Marshall Islands / Engebi
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
On 18 February 1944, the First and Second Battalions, 22nd Marines, spearheaded an amphibious assault on the island of Engebi in the Eniwetok atoll. Despite heavy naval bombardment and support from Army and Marine batteries on nearby islands, the two battalions experienced a challenging and bloody baptism of fire. The advance continued inexorably: the first assault units landed at 0843, and by 1450 the same day, the island was declared “secured” except for mopping up activities.
Company A, 22nd Marines, faced a particularly difficult fight as landing delays left a gap on their flank. Japanese troops attacked through, and halted the company for several hours until reinforcements from I/3/22 arrived. Twenty-one of the 85 fatal Marine casualties on Engebi were from Company A.
PFC Robert Wieman, who had been with the 22nd Marines since its activation in June of 1942, was one of those killed at Engebi. No details of his final moments are currently known.
Burial Information or Disposition
Wieman’s burial place was not immediately known to his organization, as noted in the muster roll: “no record of evacuation.” At some later point – exactly when is not clear – they received information that he had been interred in a “Temporary American Cemetery, Kirinian Island.” Most Engebi casualties wound up in this cemetery, which was christened “Coral Sands.” When Graves Registration troops arrived in July, they noted an “isolated burial” of an “unknown US Marine.” This individual was dubbed “X-1” and reinterred at Coral Sands.
The cemetery on Kirinian Island was exhumed and closed in 1947, and the remains shipped to Hawaii for final identification. Anthropologists managed to identify every unknown from Coral Sands – all except X-1. They noted strong similarities between the PFC Wieman and the unknown Marine, but due to discrepancies in his dental chart, declined to make an official identification.
Coral Sands X-1 is currently buried in Section P, Grave 655 of the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Relatives of Robert Wieman are strongly encouraged to contact the Marine Corps Service Casualty Office about this case.
Memorials
Next Of Kin Address
Address of parents, Charles & Viola Wieman.
Location Of Loss
PFC Wieman was killed in action at Engebi (Enjebi), Eniwetok (Enewetak) Atoll, Marshall Islands.
