Thomas Jack Berg
Corporal Thomas J. Berg served with Headquarters & Service Company, 2nd Marines.
He was killed in action at Betio, Tarawa atoll, on 20 November 1943.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number 319052
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
This case is under Active Pursuit by the DPAA.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
August 17, 1923
at Milwaukee, WI
Parents
Rudolph Louis Berg
Meta “Mae” (Gauger) Berg
Education
Marquette University High School (1941)
Occupation & Employer
None; enlisted out of high school
Service Life
Entered Service
August 29, 1941
at Milwaukee, WI
Home Of Record
811 East Mason Street
Milwaukee, WI
Next Of Kin
Mother, Mrs. Mae Berg
Military Specialty
Radio Operator
Primary Unit
Communications Platoon
H&S Co./2nd Marines
Campaigns Served
Guadalcanal
Tarawa
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
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Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
Corporal Thomas Berg served as a radio operator with Headquarters Company, 2nd Marines during the campaigns for Guadalcanal and Tarawa.
On the morning of 20 November 1943, Berg was assigned duty with a forward echelon communications unit making an assault landing on Betio’s Beach Red One. His LVT included a command group from the 18th Marines, an attached engineer unit, in addition to other troops from Berg’s own 2nd Marines. The slow-moving amphibious tractors were easy targets for Japanese troops on shore, and the approach to Red 1 was made under a hellish storm of fire from weapons of all calibers.
PFC Robert J. Reder of A/1/18th Marines made it to shore, but realized that he was one of the lucky ones. “We found out the amtrac to our left lost four of our men when a mortar hit them dead center,” he wrote in 1993. “In that amtrac were platoon leaders Lt. Ed Rozanski, PltSgt. Robert Hamm, Cpl. Thomas Berg, and PFC Giles McDermott.”
Berg evidently had his radio up and running on the approach to the beach, as one of his buddies recalled.
Shortly after 0900, we were ordered to proceed to shore. On the way in, our amphtrac got hung up on a reef about 50 yards west of the pier, and about the same distance from the beach. As the driver was attempting to break free, we put up our radio to find out what was happening on the beach. We established communication with our forward echelon operator Thomas Berg, but this contact lasted only a short while. Later, we learned that Tom's amphtrac took a direct hit while he was talking to us.
Officially, Corporal Berg died of “shrapnel wounds, right shoulder.”
Of the four men known killed in the LVT, only PFC McDermott has been recovered.
Burial Information or Disposition
No information recorded; no identifiable remains recovered.
A memorial marker was erected in Cemetery 33, Grave 12, Row 1, Plot 16.
Next Of Kin Address
Address of mother, Mrs. Mae Berg.
Location Of Loss
Corporal Berg was reportedly last seen in the vicinity of Beach Red One.
Corporal THOMAS BERG was my uncle.