Virgil Claud Thornburg
Private Virgil C. Thornburg served with Negate (N) Company, Fourth Marine Raider Battalion.
He was killed in action at Bairoko Harbor, New Georgia, on 20 July 1943.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number 443045
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
January 30, 1922
at Francis, OK
Parents
George Nacona Thornburg
Laura Elizabeth (Canada) Thornburg
Education
Selma Union High School (1939)
Occupation & Employer
JCPenney Company
Service Life
Entered Service
August 25, 1942
at Los Angeles, CA
Home Of Record
Del Rey, CA
Next Of Kin
Father, Mr. George Thornburg
Military Specialty
Raider
Machine Gunner
Primary Unit
N/4th Raider Battalion
Campaigns Served
New Georgia
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
Virgil Thornburg served with Company N, Fourth Marine Raider Battalion, during the New Georgia campaign. He saw his first combat during the fighting for Vura Village on 1 July 1943; by 12 July his battalion was back at Guadalcanal, pleased with their success and believing their part in the fighting over. Six days later, however, they were disembarking from transports at Enogai Inlet, reinforcing the First Raider Battalion and preparing for an assault on the Japanese stronghold at Bairoko Habor.
The attack began on 20 July 1943. The First and Fourth Raider Battalions, advancing along the Enogai-Bairoko Trail, formed the northern wing of the assault, with 3/148th Infantry supporting along the Triri-Bairoko trail to the south. “Between the two trails was tangled jungle and vile swampland, which we all knew meant there would be no opportunity for fancy maneuvering,” recalled Raider Marlin Groft (B/1st Raider Battalion). “When we attacked Bairoko it would be a desperate, head-on frontal assault.” At 1015, the Raiders hit the first Japanese outposts and pushed through with grenades and bayonets – only to run headlong into an impassible main line of resistance. “A wall of lead came at us from Nambus firmly placed in nests chiseled into the hard coral,” Groft continued. “Our advance was brought to a halt…. If combat men ever experienced a Hell on Earth, this was it.”
Negate Company entered the fray at 1230, moving into position to attack the Japanese right flank with Peter Company. The assault got within 200 yards of the main defensive line and seized a small ridge, but the Raiders took heavy casualties in the process. They had no heavy weapons to deploy; light machine guns provided the most firepower and were in high demand throughout the battle. Corporal William Haines led his squad within 200 yards of a Japanese-held ridge; snipers opened fire, “but we were ordered to keep driving ahead.
Haines related the following story to combat correspondent Samuel Stavisky:
We kept at it, and my squad got within 25 yards of the top, when all hell broke loose. Corporal [Anthony H.] Strauss was hit bad through the chest. We picked up his tripod and ammunition and kept on.
We almost made it. Only five feet to go when Thornburg, and ammunition carrier, and [Private Clayton C.] Shipp, who was bringing up the gun, were hit. Thornburg was killed outright.
Hacker grabbed up the machine gun and stuck it behind the cover of a banyan tree. We turned to give Shipp first aid. I was reaching in my pocket for the morphine when a sniper's bullet pierced my helmet, but it only scratched my head.
I still wasn't sure whether or not I'd been hit, but there I was, still on my feet, so I pushed up to the top of the hill with Hacker and we fired a belt of ammunition before things quieted down.
By 1700 hours, high casualties and fading daylight forced the Raiders to withdraw back to Enogai. The “screwed up affair” of Bairoko was the worst defeat ever inflicted on a Raider unit; the 4th Raider Battalion alone suffered 127 wounded and 29 killed in action.
Burial Information or Disposition
Most of the Raiders killed in action at Bairoko were left in the field; evacuating the wounded took priority. In the days that followed small American patrols ventured back to the battlefield to collect equipment and locate the fallen. They had some success, as noted in the 1st Raider Regiment’s war diary:
22 July 1943, 1200 – ENOGAI-BAIROKO patrol salvages communication gear, recovers some Blue [Amerian] dead, reports some Jap activity.
23 July 1943, 1200 – BAIROKO patrol buries 4 Marines, reports Jap activity.
24 July 1943, 1230 – BAIROKO patrol reports Jap defensive positions still manned, buries two dead Marines.
With Japanese troops active in the area, it was deemed to difficult and dangerous for a small patrol to carry remains back to Enogai, and thus they were buried in the field. More than a month would pass before a general retrieval and recovery effort could be made. Photographs of this process show Marines carrying blanket-wrapped bundles, suggesting an advanced state of decomposition. Individually identifying the dead would have been challenging, but was accomplished in most cases before burial in the Enogai cemetery. The dead Raiders were later moved from Enogai to the New Georgia
Cemetery, and finally to the Finschaffen cemetery complex in New Guinea.
There is no known burial data for Private Thornburg; his remains were listed as “not recovered.” He may be buried as an unknown in Manila, or possibly still lie somewhere on the Dragons Peninsula.
Memorials
Next Of Kin Address
The Thornburgs had a ranch outside of Del Rey, Fresno county.
Location Of Loss
Private Thornburg was killed in action near Bairoko (Mbaeroko), New Georgia.
