Tommie John Worley
Private Tommie J. Worley served with Able Company, First Battalion, 8th Marines.
He was killed in action at Guadalcanal on 25 November 1942.
Branch
Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 334421
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
March 27, 1922
in Centerville, TN
Parents
John Henry Worley
Myrtle (Armstrong) Worley (d. 1937)
Education
Details unknown
Occupation & Employer
Laborer, saw mill
Service Life
Entered Service
December 13, 1941
at Nashville, TN
Home Of Record
Rural Route 1
Santa Fe, TN
Next Of Kin
Father, Mr. John H. Worley
Military Specialty
—
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
On 25 November 1942, the First Battalion, 8th Marines held defensive positions along a ridge west of Guadalcanal’s Matanikau River. Frontal assaults over the previous days had failed to crack the powerful Japanese line, and Marine and Army units were limited to sending out combat patrols to knock out the more troublesome enemy emplacements. Machine gun positions were especially hard to eliminate, and the battalion suffered 27 casualties during the day’s operations.
Able Company reported three Marines killed in action on 25 November: PFC Clarence L. Evans, PFC William E. Florence, and Private Tommie Worley. While no eyewitness accounts of their final moments are currently known, the regimental operations journal may provide an insight:
1140: 1-8 reports they had two men hit trying to get at MG nest from the front. They have been using 81 and 60mm mortars on it most of morning. Another small patrol worked around to come up the ravine and they were all hit by MG fire.
1350: Co "B" has relieved Co "A" on the line. Co "A" received several casualties from their operations against the Jap MG positions this morning.
Japanese artillery also hit the First Battalion’s supply dump at 1430 hours, killing four Marines and wounding an additional ten.
Burial Information or Disposition
Worley, Evans, and Florence were all reportedly buried “in the field.” In Worley’s case, the location was noted as coordinates (71.8-200) on the standard Map 104 of Guadalcanal’s northern coast. This is unusually far behind the front lines – on the other side of the Matanikau River, in fact – and raises the question of why a field burial was necessary. In the words of Captain John R. O’Hara, “Due to battle conditions, it was impossible to remove [Worley’s] body to the Division Cemetery. Prints and positive identification was secured and established by the Medical Section, First Battalion, Eighth Marines Reinforced.” O’Hara was the Bn-4 (supply officer), whose men were in charge of handling the battalion’s dead and went to great lengths to bring back their fallen – even drawing mild censure from regimental officers who noted that supplies of fresh water and food were delayed due to evacuating the dead. If Worley was killed at this location, it seems unlikely that the battalion’s personnel would have left him in a field grave. Furthermore, another 1/8 Marine reportedly killed at the supply dump (Private James D. Rougeaux) was buried at coordinates (70.1-200.1) – almost two thousand yards west of Worley.
Given these peculiarities, it seems likely that Worley’s burial coordinates were wrongly recorded;Â however, without eyewitness accounts, the full truth about his death and burial can’t be known for certain.
In April 1944, Graves Registration teams located and identified PFCs Evans and Florence, and they were reburied in the Army-Navy-Marine Cemetery. Worley was not so fortunate; his remains have never been identified.
Memorials
Next Of Kin Address
The Worleys lived on a rural route outside the town of Santa Fe, Tennessee.
Location Of Loss
Approximate area of Worley’s reported burial location east of the Matanikau River.
