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NAME Wallace Byron Bates |
NICKNAME — |
SERVICE NUMBER 340298 |
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| UNIT 155mm Group 9th Defense Battalion |
HOME OF RECORD Stevensville, PA |
NEXT OF KIN Father, Mr. William E. Bates |
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| DATE OF BIRTH May 7, 1920 at Stevensville, PA |
ENTERED SERVICE December 30, 1941 at Syracuse, NY |
DATE OF LOSS July 2, 1943 |
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| REGION Solomon Islands |
CAMPAIGN / AREA New Georgia / Rendova |
CASUALTY TYPE Missing In Action Declared Dead July 3, 1944 |
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CIRCUMSTANCES OF LOSS On the morning of 2 July 1943, Bates and a handful of other artillerymen were working near a newly-established fuel dump. A large force of Japanese aircraft appeared overhead at 0930 and dropped several bombs on the crowded beaches, setting fire to fuel and ammunition. When the pandemonium ceased, four members of the 9th Defense Battalion were dead and PFC Bates was missing. No identifiable trace of Wallace Bates was ever found. He was carried on the rolls as “missing” for a year and a day, and was eventually declared dead on 3 July 1944. |
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| INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONS Purple Heart |
LAST KNOWN RANK Private First Class |
STATUS OF REMAINS Missing |
MEMORIALS Stevensville Cemetery Manila American Cemetery |
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Biography:
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