The Last US Marine KIA of WWII honored at Punchbowl

[Salvage Sailor]

Gone, yes — but never forgotten

 

Marine Capt. Damon Torres stood over the grave of Pfc. W.C. Patrick Bates yesterday and thought of his men as they stood at parade rest to honor the last Marine killed in World War II.

 

"Private 1st Class Bates' sacrifice will never be forgotten," Torres said under cloudy skies at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl. "The Marines of today will not allow it. Private 1st Class Bates will forever remain a member of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, for he is another guardian angel to watch over today's Marines as we continue our fight to preserve freedom."

 

Bates, of Crane Hill, Ala., was 20 years old — and a member of Kilo Company — when he was shot by a sniper on Guam on Dec. 14, 1945.

 

His death came nearly three months after the Japanese formally surrendered aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2, 1945.

 

Story Continues Here

 

Gone, yes - but never forgotten

 

Photos Here (The eight Marines also honored Gordon Eshom Shive, a Marine who died on the USS Arizona on Dec. 7, 1941 during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. )

 

Photo Gallery of Memorial Service

[Satterra]

Gone, yes — but never forgotten

 

Marine Capt. Damon Torres stood over the grave of Pfc. W.C. Patrick Bates yesterday and thought of his men as they stood at parade rest to honor the last Marine killed in World War II.

 

"Private 1st Class Bates' sacrifice will never be forgotten," Torres said under cloudy skies at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl. "The Marines of today will not allow it. Private 1st Class Bates will forever remain a member of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, for he is another guardian angel to watch over today's Marines as we continue our fight to preserve freedom."

 

Bates, of Crane Hill, Ala., was 20 years old — and a member of Kilo Company — when he was shot by a sniper on Guam on Dec. 14, 1945.

 

His death came nearly three months after the Japanese formally surrendered aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2, 1945.

 

Story Continues Here

 

Gone, yes - but never forgotten

 

Photos Here (The eight Marines also honored Gordon Eshom Shive, a Marine who died on the USS Arizona on Dec. 7, 1941 during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. )

 

Photo Gallery of Memorial Service

 

Thank you for posting this article so that others might find it, in fact it is the first time I am reading it. I will never forget, and certainly not Gordon or Malcolm Shive, my uncles who were killed aboard the USS Arizona, December 7th, 1941. Gary Shive

[Popo367]

Wow,

Thank you for sharing......Semper Fi....

[ClaptonIsGod]

Did he get a PH even though the Japanese had surrendered and were no longer "enemies"?