Russell Melvin Burill
Corporal Russell M. Burill served with Fox Company, Second Battalion, 2nd Marines.
He was killed in action at Betio, Tarawa atoll, on 20 November 1943.
Branch
Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 293246
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
This case is under Active Pursuit by the DPAA.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
September 11, 1916
at Pleasant Bend, OH
Parents
William Edward Burill
Elsie Elizabeth (Wolf) Burill
Education
Details unknown
Occupation & Employer
Caretaker
Country club
Service Life
Entered Service
August 28, 1940
at Cincinnati, OH
Home Of Record
New Bavaria, OH
Next Of Kin
Mother, Mrs. Elsie Burill
Military Specialty
—
Primary Unit
F/2/2nd Marines
Campaigns Served
Guadalcanal
Tarawa
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
Corporal Russell Burill served as an NCO with Fox Company, 2nd Marines during the Tarawa campaign. On 20 November 1943, his battalion was assigned the task of spearheading the assault on Betio’s Red Beach Two. Fox Company would land on the eastern half of the beach, fight their way inland, and help secure a vital airfield. If all went according to plan, they would walk ashore standing up and have the situation in hand by evening.
Unfortunately, the plan went right out the window in the first few minutes of the assault. Extremely heavy Japanese fire tore into the amphibian tractors carrying the Marines ashore; many of the vehicles never even reached the beach. The 2nd Marines suffered an astonishing number of casualties in moments; they managed to secure a toehold on the beach, but facing withering firepower, few managed to get over the sea wall and into the Japanese defenses beyond.
Corporal Burill was one of nineteen Fox Company Marines to lose his life on the first day of the battle; he died from gunshot wounds to the head.
Burial Information or Disposition
On 22 November, Corporal Burill body was reportedly buried in “Beach Red Cemetery #2” (also known as “Central Division Cemetery”), Row A, Grave 16. This location was later “beautified” by Navy garrison forces, and a memorial built on top of the graves – which required knocking down the original markers. The reconstructed “Cemetery 26” included a white cross for Corporal Burill (Grave 9, Row 1, Plot 1), but this bore no relation to where his remains were actually buried.
The 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company exhumed the bodies buried in this cemetery late in 1946, but were unable to identify many of the men they found. Today, Corporal Russell Burill may be buried as an unknown in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific – or his remains may still lie on Betio itself.
Next Of Kin Address
Address of mother, Mrs. Elsie Burill.
Location Of Loss
Corporal Burill was killed in the vicinity of Betio’s Beach Red 2.
