Stanley Winnemucca
PFC Stanley Winnemucca served with Baker Company, First Battalion, 6th Marines.
He was killed in action at Betio, Tarawa atoll, on 22 November 1943.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number 367732
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
This case is under Active Pursuit by the DPAA.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
August 4, 1919
at Nixon, NV
Parents
Pete Winnemucca (d. 1942)
Nina Biscuit Winnemucca
Education
Details unknown
Occupation & Employer
Farm Laborer
Other Details
Stanley was a direct descendant of Winnemucca, a Paiute tribal leader and war chief.
Service Life
Entered Service
February 2, 1942
at San Francisco, CA
Home Of Record
Nixon, NV
Next Of Kin
Father, Mr. Pete Winnemucca
Military Specialty
—
Primary Unit
B/1/6th Marines
Campaigns Served
Guadalcanal
Tarawa
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
PFC Stanley Winnemucca, a full-blooded member of the Paiute tribe, served with Company B, 6th Marines in the Solomon Islands and the battle of Tarawa.
Winnemucca’s company landed on 21 November 1943 and crossed Beach Green under the cover of darkness. Early the next morning, they began attacking eastward along the southern coast of Betio, working their way through tangled brush and craters and fighting for countless Japanese bunkers and pillboxes. When darkness fell on 22 November, B/1/6 dug in for defense and helped repelled a concentrated banzai attack. They lost heavily, but extracted a worse toll on their attackers, and the battle largely ended on 23 November.
PFC Winnemucca was killed in action by gunshot wounds in the head and chest at some point during the fighting on 22 November. No further details of his death are currently known.
Burial Information or Disposition
The day after he died, PFC Winnemucca was reportedly buried in “Gilbert Islands Cemetery” along with dozens of Marines from his battalion. He was one of eight Marines with a set of coordinates appended to his burial information: “Betio (KH 283072 D-2 Map 14Oct43).” Unfortunately, this burial site was destroyed shortly after the battle, and although a memorial with Winnemucca’s name appeared in Cemetery 33 (Plot 16, Row 3, Grave 4), it bore no relation to his actual resting place.
In 2019, the non-profit organization History Flight located a previously lost burial feature known as Row D. This site was known to be the grave of most of the 1/6th Marines battle casualties, and more than thirty remains were subsequently recovered and identified. Among them were two Marines with map coordinates identical to the ones recorded for PFC Winnemucca.
Although this discovery is a strong indication that Stanley Winnemucca may have been buried in the same vicinity, his remains have not yet been recovered or identified.
Next Of Kin Address
Address of parents, Pete and Nina Winnemucca.
Location Of Loss
PFC Winnemucca was killed in action at an unspecified location along Betios’ southern shore.
