Isolated grave of Sergeant Clifton Earl Fomby, who served with Company C, First Battalion, 6th Marines. Sergeant Fomby distinguished himself in the battle of Tarawa by running across the fire-swept airstrip to secure tank support for his company, and then guiding those same tanks to demolish a Japanese fortification. For his actions on 22 November, Fomby would receive the Silver Star Medal – but unfortunately, the award was posthumous as he was killed in action the following day. Marine Corps Graves Registration noted Fomby’s burial as “disposition unknown.”
Fomby’s remains were located by the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company, and identified in the field. He was buried in Lone Palm Cemetery Plot 2, Row 10, Grave 1 on 5 April 1946, and ultimately returned to his family for burial in a cemetery near his hometown in Bernice, Louisiana.
