This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Pamela LaVerne Jeans-Historian
to remember
Marine Maj Harry Ellzey (J).
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Contact Info
Last Address Washington Parrish
Date of Passing Oct 27, 2006
Location of Interment Coastal Carolina State Veterans Cemetery - Jacksonville, North Carolina
Wall/Plot Coordinates *Plot: B1-20
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Other Comments:
Major Harry T. "J" Ellzey, 86, in Jacksonville, NC. He enlisted in the Navy just prior to WWII. Selected for naval flight school, he chose a Marine Commission when he was designated a naval aviator. He flew multi-engine transports (R4D, R5D, R5C) throughout the Pacific. Following the was he flew over China in support of UN operations and then again in support of Marines during the Korean War. He was the PX Officer at MCAS El Toro, CA, Cam Lejeune, NC and Iwakuni, Japan. He retired in 1962 with 22 years of active service.
Eastern Mandates Campaign (1944)/Operation Flintlock/Battle of Kwajalein Atoll
From Month/Year
January / 1944
To Month/Year
February / 1944
Description The Battle of Kwajalein was fought as part of the Pacific campaign of World War II. It took place from 31 January-3 February 1944, on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Employing the hard-learned lessons of the battle of Tarawa, the United States launched a successful twin assault on the main islands of Kwajalein in the south and Roi-Namur in the north. The Japanese defenders put up stiff resistance, although outnumbered and under-prepared. The determined defense of Roi-Namur left only 51 survivors of an original garrison of 3,500.
For the US, the battle represented both the next step in its island-hopping march to Japan and a significant moral victory because it was the first time the Americans had penetrated the "outer ring" of the Japanese Pacific sphere. For the Japanese, the battle represented the failure of the beach-line defense. Japanese defenses became prepared in depth, and the battles of Peleliu, Guam, and the Marianas proved far more costly to the US.
