This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Sgt Ryan Mahana (Alcatraz)
to remember
Marine 1stLt Charles Casper Winnia, Jr..
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Contact Info
Last Address 2618 Hillegass Ave. Berkeley, Calif
MIA Date Jul 18, 1943
Cause MIA-Finding of Death
Reason Air Loss, Crash - Sea
Location Papua New Guinea
Location of Memorial Manila American Cemetery - Taguig City, Philippines
VMF-213 was formed July 1, 1942 at Marine Corps Air Station Ewa, Hawaii. The squadron left MCAS Ewa on February 21, 1943 and arrived at Espiritu Santo on March 1, 1943. They received their first F4U Corsairs while at Espiritu on March 11, 1943 and after a brief stint training they moved to Guadalcanal in April 1943. On June 17, 1943, VMF-213 relieved VMF-124 in the Russell Islands. While in the Solomons, VMF-213 participated in actions against New Georgia and Kahali and flew throughout the Solomon Islands until December 1943.
Lt. Winnia was a F4U-1 Corsair pilot for USMC VMF-213 Guadalcanal in 1943. The plane took off from Henderson Field on an escort mission for B-24s bombing Kahili Airfield and was lost in a dog fight over Kahili on July 18, 1943.
WINNIA, Charles C, 1STLT, O-014324, USMC, from California, location Solomon Islands, date of loss July 18, 1943 + WINNIA, Charles C, First Lieutenant, O-014324, USMC, from California, 1946, Manila American Cemetery + WINNIA, Charles Casper, 14324, POW&MPDet, HQUSMC, Washington DC, January 10, 1946, missing-killed in action + WINNIA, Charles Casper, 1st Lieutenant, USMCR. Mother, Mrs. Stella B. Winnia, 2618 Hillegass Ave., Berkeley, Calif
1stLt Charles Casper Winnia, pilot, was declared Missing in Action on 18 Jul 1943.
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Northern Solomon Islands Campaign (1943-44)
From Month/Year
February / 1943
To Month/Year
November / 1944
Description The Solomon Islands campaign was a major campaign of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign began with Japanese landings and occupation of several areas in the British Solomon Islands and Bougainville, in the Territory of New Guinea, during the first six months of 1942. The Japanese occupied these locations and began the construction of several naval and air bases with the goals of protecting the flank of the Japanese offensive in New Guinea, establishing a security barrier for the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain, and providing bases for interdicting supply lines between the Allied powers of the United States and Australia and New Zealand.
The Allies, in order to defend their communication and supply lines in the South Pacific, supported a counteroffensive in New Guinea, isolated the Japanese base at Rabaul, and counterattacked the Japanese in the Solomons with landings on Guadalcanal (see Guadalcanal Campaign) and small neighboring islands on 7 August 1942. These landings initiated a series of combined-arms battles between the two adversaries, beginning with the Guadalcanal landing and continuing with several battles in the central and northern Solomons, on and around New Georgia Island, and Bougainville Island.
In a campaign of attrition fought on land, on sea, and in the air, the Allies wore the Japanese down, inflicting irreplaceable losses on Japanese military assets. The Allies retook some of the Solomon Islands (although resistance continued until the end of the war), and they also isolated and neutralized some Japanese positions, which were then bypassed. The Solomon Islands campaign then converged with the New Guinea campaign.
