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Royal Lawrence Waltz

PFC Royal L. Waltz served with Able Company, First Battalion, 18th Marines.
He was reported missing in action at Betio, Tarawa atoll, on 20 November 1943, and declared dead on 21 November 1944.

Created by potrace 1.16, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2019

Branch

Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 316370

Created by potrace 1.16, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2019

Current Status

Accounted For
as of 15 May 2019

Created by potrace 1.16, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2019

Recovery Organization

Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
and
History Flight 2009 Expedition
Read DPAA Press Release

History

Personal Summary

Royal Lawrence Waltz was born in Hanford, California, on 8 February 1923. He was the son of Royal Leander and Maude (Parrish) Waltz; his siblings, Martha and Freeland Waltz, were already teenagers when young Royal arrived. The Waltzes made their home on a dairy farm in rural Kings County – they were known for their Jersey cattle, and were among the oldest settler families in the area.

 

Little information is known about Royal’s life before the service. According to the 1940 census, he attended high school for one year; this was probably all he completed before enlisting in the Marine Corps on 13 August 1941.

Service Details

After completing boot camp. Private Waltz was immediately assigned to Company “A” of the Second Engineer Battalion, which was then constructing Camp Catlin on the island of Oahu. Waltz came aboard in late October, 1941, and thus had a ringside seat for his country’s entry into World War II.

 

In April of 1942, the battalion shipped back to the mainland to join the 2nd Marine Division. The following month, Royal’s Company A was temporarily disbanded and the men attached to combat regiments for deployment overseas. Royal himself traveled to the Solomon Islands on the rolls of the Third Battalion, 2nd Marines; he participated in the battle for Guadalcanal as a carpenter. In September 1942, Royal’s company re-formed, and they served out the rest of the campaign as an organic unit.

 

When the Guadalcanal veterans rejoined the rest of their battalion in New Zealand in the spring of 1943, they were re-designated as Company “A,” First Battalion, 18th Marines – the engineer unit of the 2nd Marine Division. The next several months were spent in training new men and preparing for subsequent combat operations. Injuries were common; Royal was temporarily laid up with a lacerated leg, but stuck to his duties and received a promotion to Private First Class.

 

Engineer training in New Zealand emphasized destruction more than construction. In combat, platoons of the 18th Marines would be attached to assault companies to destroy bunkers, pillboxes, and other fortifications that threatened the riflemen. PFC Waltz was once again attached to the Third Battalion, 2nd Marines. He would land with them on a stretch of sand designated “Red Beach One” on an island codenamed “HELEN” – Betio, in the Tarawa atoll.

Loss And Burial

Royal Waltz made it to shore on 20 November 1943, but did not get much farther. He was hit in his first few minutes ashore; friends or corpsmen dragged the bleeding engineer to the slight protection of a sea wall and bandaged his wounds. The unit moved on, leaving PFC Waltz behind.

When it came time to account for the casualties, PFC Waltz’s wound was reported – along with the assumption that he had been evacuated to a hospital ship for additional treatment. His records were even forwarded to the casual battalion of the V Amphibious Corps, with the notation that he was sick in the hospital. It was not until April 1944 that someone realized that PFC Waltz was not in any known hospital – in fact, he had not been seen since 20 November 1943. His status was updated to “missing in action,” and on 21 November 1944, after the traditional year-and-a-day, he was declared dead.

Royal Lawrence Waltz never left Beach Red One. He died at Betio, and was buried on the island as an unknown.

The Waltz family received much conflicting information after Tarawa – first that Royal was wounded, then missing, then presumed dead. In 1945, a letter from another Marine helped shed some light on their son’s last moments:

“Your son was wounded in the initial landing. The best I can remember he was hit in the shoulder. The fighting was so thick and hot, that he was put in a hole just off the beach. I am sure he received medical attention, because he was to be evacuated as soon as it was possible. When he was going from there to a boat at the beach, he was killed by sniper fire. I don’t know where he was buried.”

Recovery

After the battle, Royal’s remains were brought to the East Division Cemetery for burial. He could not be identified at the time.

 

In 1946, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company exhumed the remains in the East Division Cemetery (also known as “Cemetery 33”) and attempted to identify hundreds of men prior to re-burial in Lone Palm Cemetery. The following year, the bodies were moved again – this time to the Central Identification Laboratory in Honolulu for final processing.

 

One of these individuals, designated as Betio X-228, arrived at CILH from Plot 2, Row 9, Grave 7 of the Lone Palm Cemetery. Forensic methods of the 1940s failed to solve the mystery, and he was laid to rest in Grave 312, Plot E of the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

 

In 2017, X-228 was exhumed once again and returned to the lab. The bones were combined with remains found on Betio by non-profit organization History Flight in 2009. This new evidence, in addition to dental and DNA records, led to the eventual identification of Royal Waltz in 2019.

Decorations

Purple Heart

For wounds resulting in his death, 20 November 1943.

Next Of Kin Address

Address of mother, Mrs. Maude E. Waltz.

Location Of Loss

PFC Waltz was wounded shortly after coming ashore on Beach Red One, Betio.

Betio Casualties From This Company

(Recently accounted for or still non-recovered)
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