Wilbur Clyde Mattern
PFC Wilbur C. Mattern served with Mike Company, Third Battalion, 8th Marines.
He was killed in action at the battle of Tarawa on 21 November 1943.
Branch
Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 325547
Current Status
Accounted For
as of 9 August 2016
Recovery Organization
History Flight 2015 Expedition
Read DPAA Press Release
History
[Biography coming soon]
Decorations
Purple Heart
For wounds resulting in his death, 21 November 1943.
Next Of Kin Address
Address of father, Mr. Phil Mattern.
Location Of Loss
Mattern’s battalion landed at various locations between Beach Red 2 and Red 3.
Gallery
Before he was a Marine, Wilbur served three years in the US Army. He was discharged in September 1941.
Private Mattern's Marine Corps service record book, 1941.
Marine Mattern, c. 1942.
20 November 1943: reinforcing waves of Marines watch the smoke-shrouded shore of Betio from their Higgins boat.
The remnants of an ammunition storehouse became a waypoint for many BLT 3-8 Marines on 20 November 1943.
The Freeport (IL) Journal-Standard, 29 December 1943.
Mattern's military Certificate of Death, 1943.
PFC Mattern's personal effects were sent home to his family.
Wilbur's brother, Walt, was killed in action on Guam. The Oelwein Daily Register, 17 August 1944.
A memorial cross emplaced at Cemetery 27 after the individual markers were removed. US Navy photo.
Betio Casualties From This Company
(Recently accounted for or still non-recovered)
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