Walter Kafut was born on 7 August 1919, and spent almost all of his life in Hibbing, Minnesota. He grew up in a large family that included parents John and Magdalena Kafut; older siblings Mary, Stanley and Frank; and younger brothers Bruno and John Paul. A third brother, Adam, died shortly after birth in 1923.

Little else is known about Walter’s life before the war. When he registered for Selective Service in October of 1940, he was living with his parents and unemployed.

[First Name’s] siblings included older younger sisters brothers.

He attended [high school] and [college]. Before joining the Marines, name worked at [civilian job].

Walter volunteered for the regular Marine Corps on 15 April 1942 and enlisted in Minneapolis. After completing his boot training in San Diego, he was assigned to duty with Company M, Third Battalion, 22nd Marines and deployed overseas to Samoa.

Garrison duty proved to be a dull prospect and many men in the 22nd pulled any strings they could to transfer to combat units. Several volunteered for the Raiders, and after an interview and assessment officers, a handful were accepted. Private Kafut was among them, and joined Company D, Third Raider Battalion in September 1942.

In February 1943, Kafut participated in Operation CLEANSLATE – the bloodless invasion of the Russell Islands – and the occupation of Pavuvu. Like many Raiders, he suffered more from the effects of tropical diseases on miasmic Pavuvu and spent several months on the sick list.

However, PFC Kafut was back in action by October – in time to ship from camp at Noumea, New Caledonia to Guadalcanal, and then to a beachhead at Cape Torokina, Bougainville. By this time, his unit designation had changed to Company M, Third Raider Battalion, 2nd Marine Raider Regiment.

Kafut and Company M were detached from the rest of their battalion for the Torokina operation. They were ordered to land alongside the 2nd Battalion and advance inland as quickly as possible along a muddy track known as “Mission Trail.” About 1500 yards from the shoreline, the path formed a junction with the “Piva Trail.” While both trails would soon be infamous, the objective for Company M was to seize the junction and set up a roadblock to slow down any Japanese counterattack.

The advance, accompanied by war dogs, was only lightly opposed – but it cost PFC Walter Kafut his life. A history of the Raiders notes only that Kafut was killed on the way to the roadblock. No other details are known.

During early 1944, an effort was made to collect all isolated burials for more permanent interment at the Torokina Cemetery. A Graves Registration team went in search of PFC Kafut and Grave #7, but were unsuccessful. “Grave lost due to clearning and construction of a road,” they noted.

Further efforts to locate Kafut’s grave were unsuccessful, and he was declared non-recoverable in 1949.

CENOTAPHS
Manila American Cemetery and Memorial