Samuel Vignovich
Private Samuel Vignovich served with George Company, Second Battalion, 5th Marines.
He was killed in action at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on 26 September 1942.
Branch
Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 244435
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth*
May 7, 1916
at Aliquippa, PA
Parents
Mike Vignovich (d. 1939)
Sara Vignovich
Education
Details unknown
Occupation & Employer
Details unknown
* Date of birth on military records. Other sources claim May 1917.
Service Life
Entered Service
2 February 1942
at Pittsburgh, PA
Home Of Record
209 Baker Street
Aliquippa, PA
Next Of Kin
Mother, Sara Vignovich
Military Specialty
—
Primary Unit
G/2/5th Marines
Campaigns Served
Solomon Islands / Guadalcanal
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
(only if relevant and short)
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
Private Sam Vignovich participated in the campaigns for the Solomon Islands as a member of G/2/5th Marines. By mid-September 1942, he was a veteran of landings on Tulagi, combat patrols on Guadalcanal, and the battle for Edson’s Ridge.
On September 25, Vignovich’s battalion was ordered to saddle up and head into the boondocks to support a friendly combat patrol. They were placed under the temporary command of LtCol. Lewis “Chesty” Puller, and patrolled west towards the Matanikau River. They followed the eastern bank towards the river’s mouth and attempted to cross over a sandspit on the morning of 26 September. Japanese defenders knocked back scouts from Easy Company, and the Marines formed up along the bank to force their way across.
Captain Tom Richmond’s George Company was ordered to lead the assault across the spit, with Corporal Charles H. “Buddy” Waldron‘s squad on the point. “He had seven guys,” recalled First Sergeant Francis Lieberman. “He got the whole squad across. Then the roof caved in. They shot machine guns, mortars – goddamn, they used everything. The rest of us were pinned down on that open beach.”
Ed Newell remembered the sudden bloodbath that obliterated several of his friends in a matter of minutes.
We made three attacks trying to get across the sandspit at the mouth of the Matanikau River. Second Platoon lost Waldron, Hopkins, Kennedy, Thresher, and Vignovich, all on the same day at the same place – and quite a few wounded. The platoon was pretty chewed up that day.
We never got across the sandspit either, and it was only a few hundred yards long....
Burial Information or Disposition
According to unit records, the Marines who fell in the failed attack across the Matanikau were buried on the west end of the sandspit “about 1,000 yards west of a road along beach at Guadalcanal.” However, the western bank of the Matanikau remained under Japanese control – and would be the scene of more fierce fighting in the months to come. As veteran Ed Newell recalled:
To be honest, his body, and those of the other killed may have washed to sea during the night after the attack. If his body was recovered and buried on the sand spit, it would have been buried within just a few yards above high tide, and of course over the years anything could have happened to it.
Memorials
Next Of Kin Address
Address of mother, Mrs. Sara Vignovich
Location Of Loss
Mouth of the Matanikau River, Guadalcanal. The sandspit present during the war has long since vanished.
My grandfather was Samuel Vignovich who served in the Army during World War II and lived in Mingo Junction, OH. He died in 1981. Not sure if this is who you are looking for, or if there actually is another Samual Vignovich.
Hi Dan – thanks for the info! This is in fact another Samuel Vignovich, who served with G/2/5th Marines and was killed in action at Guadalcanal in 1942. His family preferred not to have his biography on the site, so I removed it in accordance with their wishes.
Cheers,
Geoffrey