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Casualty Info
Home Town McCallsburg
Last Address McCallsburg Story County Iowa, USA
Casualty Date Sep 17, 1944
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Gun, Small Arms Fire
Location Palau
Conflict World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Western Pacific Campaign (1944-45)/Battle of Peleliu
This ribbon will display Multiple Award devices automatically based on the total number of awards listed.
Details Behind Award
The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION to the FIRST MARINE DIVISION for service as follows: "For extraordinary heroism in action against enemy Japanese forces at Peleliu and Ngesebus, from September 15 to 29, 1944. Landing over a treacherous coral reef against hostile mortar and artillery fire, the FIRST Marine Division, Reinforced, seized a narrow, heavily mined beachhead and advanced foot by foot in the face of relentless enfilade fire through rain forests and mangrove swamps toward the air strip, the key to the enemy defenses of the southern Palaus. Opposed all the way by thoroughly disciplined, veteran Japanese troops heavily entrenched in caves and in reinforced concrete pillboxes which honeycombed the high ground throughout the island, the officers and men of the Division fought with undiminished spirit and courage despite heavy losses, exhausting heat and difficult terrain, seizing and holding a strategic air and land base for future operations in the Western Pacific. By their individual acts of heroism, their aggressiveness and their fortitude, the men of the FIRST Marine Division, Reinforced, upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
For the President. Frank Knox Secretary of the Navy
