William Curtis Haywood

Corporal William Haywood served with Love Company, 2nd Marines during the battle of Tarawa. A veteran  of Pearl Harbor – where he escaped injury but went hungry (“I was eating breakfast when the Jap bombs started falling,” he said, “and I got so busy that it was three days before I ate again”) – Haywood went into battle well-prepared. “Marines assigned to establish the beachhead on Tarawa carried as little equipment as possible,” noted the Meridian Star newspaper, “but Cpl. Bill Haywood of Enterprise managed a few extras. In one pocket he carried two letters from his grandmother and in the other, two big red apples. ‘I swiped ’em from the ship’s galley,’ he explained, ‘because I figured I might get powerfully hungry over here.'”

On 20 November 1943, Haywood’s battalion was assigned the task of spearheading the assault on Betio’s Beach Red One – a curved stretch of sand running several hundred yards from the “bird’s beak” in the west to Red Two in the east. The natural shape of the beach created a crossfire for the defenders, and the area became known as “the Pocket.” Slow-moving landing craft were quickly targeted from multiple angles, and many were knocked out as they approached the shore. Hundreds of men were killed or wounded before stepping foot on dry land. Those who survived faced a network of obstacles manned by determined Japanese defenders, and the fighting was close-in and savage.

Love Company, designated as the battalion reserve and embarked in boats instead of tractors, faced an especially horrific ordeal. “LCVs grounded on the reef about 500 yards from the beach and [the men] disembarked into the water,” states the battalion report. “They were heavily hit both by machine gun and large caliber fire while in the water. Most of the fire came from the left, so as a consequence , the company landed on the right half of Beach Red 1. The casualties to this company at this time amounted to about 35%.

Corporal Haywood managed to survive his first chaotic day ashore, but was not destined to live through the battle. He was killed in action on 21 November 1943 at the age of 23. The exact circumstances of his death, and the disposition of his remains, are not known.