Stephen Joe Mayer
Corporal Stephen J. Mayer served with Baker Company, First Battalion, 8th Marines.
He was reported killed in action at Betio, Tarawa atoll, on 20 November 1943.
*This is an official date of death. Mayer's battalion did not land until 21 November 1943.
Branch
Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 342269
Current Status
ACCOUNTED FOR
in FY 2025
Recovery Organization
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency / History Flight 2016 Expedition
Press release pending
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
April 30, 1922
in St. Louis, MO
Parents
Stephen Benjamin Mayer
Anna (Schannes) Mayer (d. 1928)
Education
Details unknown
Occupation & Employer
Details unknown
Service Life
Entered Service
January 23, 1942
at St. Louis, MO
Home Of Record
3511-A South 2nd Street
St. Louis, MO
Next Of Kin
Father, Mr. Stephen B. Mayer
Military Specialty
Machine Gunner
Primary Unit
B/1/8th Marines
Campaigns Served
Guadalcanal
Tarawa
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
Corporal Stephen Mayer served with Company B, First Battalion, 8th Marines in the Guadalcanal campaign and during the battle for Tarawa.
At midday on 20 November 1943, BLT 1-8 climbed over the sides of their transport ships and boarded LCVPs in Tarawa lagoon. They anticipated imminent landing orders, but due to the desperate situation on the beach were held offshore in their little boats, bobbing in the waves for the rest of the day and a very long night. Early on 21 November, they were ordered to land on Betio’s Beach Red 2.
At 0615, the first waves of 1-8 rushed down the ramps and into the breaking surf on a coral reef some 500 yards from shore. Although friendly troops held the water’s edge, they “immediately came under heavy machine gun fire from both flanks.” The battalion was decimated on the long walk to shore. An action report penned by the 8th Marines noted that “many of the casualties resulted from drowning, due to the heavy packs and equipment men attempted to take across the submerged fringing reef.”
Corporal Mayer was last seen alive during the landing operation. His death was confirmed after the battle; unfortunately, no specifics were recorded. Although his battalion did not land until D+1, Mayer’s official date of death is given as 20 November 1943.
Burial Information or Disposition
Mayer’s body was reportedly identified and given a military burial in Division Cemetery #1 – also known as Central Division Cemetery, Beach Red 2 Cemetery, or Cemetery 26 – a short distance inland from the sandy strip where his battalion landed. Specifically, he was recorded in Row C, Grave #113 – one of the last burials in the area. However, identical burial information exists for another Tarawa casualty: Private Benjamin Franklin Davis (A/1/6th Marines) who died on 23 November 1943. (A memorial marker to Corporal Mayer also stood in Cemetery 33, Plot 16, Row 3, Grave 1.)
After the war, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company exhumed the Betio cemeteries. Private Davis’ body was identified during the excavation efforts; Mayer’s was not, and he was declared permanently non-recoverable in 1949.
Nearly eighty years later, the remains of “Betio Unknown X-217” were exhumed from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and sent for re-examination. This individual had been buried in Cemetery 25 (also known as Division Cemetery #2, or 8th Marines Cemetery #1). In FY 2025, these remains were positively associated with Corporal Stephen Mayer, and he was officially accounted for.
Memorials
FINAL BURIAL
Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery
CENOTAPH
Honolulu Memorial, Tablets Of The Missing
Next Of Kin Address
Address of father, Mr. Stephen B. Mayer.
Location Of Loss
Corporal Mayer’s battalion landed in the vicinity of Beach Red 2, Betio.
