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Iwo Jima USMC Dog Tags


nchistory
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Can anyone help? Seek any info on Sgt. Olaf L. Mercier, Battery C, 1st BN, 13th Marines. He had service in the 11th & 13th, and was on a list of recommendations for Bronze Star on Iwo Jima. Any way to find citation, or if he received BS? Any reports for Battery C, or 1st BN on Iwo Jima? All help is greatly appreciated.

post-153086-0-09914400-1518271043.jpg

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Well, I can't help with the Bronze Star, but here is some assorted info I found. . .

 

Enlisted: 25 Aug 1941

 

I am seeing his name spelled on all the muster rolls as "Olof", however, all his b/m/d and school records are as "Olaf".

 

In Oct 1945, he was a Sgt (4th Bn, 1ff MM HOW, 13th Mar, 5th MarDiv, FMF, Sasebo, Kyushu, Japan)

 

I am going to say that he has to be the Olof Lawrence Mercier from ME/MA. If he is, he was born on 27 Dec 1922 in Maine, and died 27 Feb 1991. Parents were Canadian French/Canadian English. He married Patricia A. Mrruay on 20 Nov 1948 in Maine.

 

Parents: Adolph and Dolly (Armsworthy) Mercier

Here is an obit for his wife:

http://www.currentobituary.com/obit/66365

 

 

Went to the University of Maine, Class of 1951:

 

post-151812-0-15130700-1518272743_thumb.jpg

 

post-151812-0-78574200-1518272748_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

 

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Only 3 people recommended for decorations or commendations from Battery C on Iwo...Bronze Star

 

Bohrer, Paul C Sgt "B"

Gunton, Roland P Sgt "C"

Gauthier, Gerard G GySGt "A"

Leitelt, Rogert J PFC "B"

Mercier, Olof L Sgt "C"

Nichols, John W PFC "C"

Poznar, Paul S Sgt "A"

Whitmire, Joseph J Sgt "B"

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The yellow cord is definitely a private purchase item. Nice, historic tags!

Thank you for your response katieony. Have you ever seen this color cord? And it may have started life clear, and turned yellow with age, not sure.

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Great stuff!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

USDog,

 

Thank you, hard to believe it was 73 years ago his actions at Iwo. By the way, I took a look at your wonderful site on historic identification tags. Love it.. Absolutely an asset.. S/.F

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Thanks for the compliments! Glad you enjoyed it. Hope it wasn't too hard to navigate (I changed the format of the site not too long ago, still needs some work).

site was easy to navigate, sent you an email. Thanks

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This gent was in the 23rd Marines on Iwo. Based on the tetanus date of 12-44 we can assume that this unusual brass pair on a plastic neck chain were the ones he wore during that campaign. The 3rd tag is on the usual oval steel tag but only has his name & service number.

 

USMC BERTON DOG TAGS.jpg

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This gent was in the 23rd Marines on Iwo. Based on the tetanus date of 12-44 we can assume that this unusual brass pair on a plastic neck chain were the ones he wore during that campaign. The 3rd tag is on the usual oval steel tag but only has his name & service number.

 

attachicon.gifUSMC BERTON DOG TAGS.jpg

Very nice Bobgee

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Before combat:

post-153086-0-80044900-1519140364.jpg

 

POST combat..you can tell this man has seen some horrible things:

post-151812-0-78574200-1518272748.jpg

THIS is the 1000yd stare..

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  • 4 weeks later...

He was, indeed, a Marine veteran of the South Pacific, although he really never spoke about it much. Guess that was the way of his generation. I'm amazed by the website (33 year enlisted Air Force/ Air National Guard veteran, retired now) and the amount of information you were able to gather. All of it accurate, by the way. I would like to find out (offline, perhaps) how you came into procession of the tags. I have a lot of my Dad's military stuff, including the original Bronze Star citation, a c-ration can of sand from Iwo, and a copy of a diary he kept up until the day he stepped onto Guadalcanal. It got lost on a liberty ship and bounced around the Pacific until it was mailed to my grandmother two years later. Quite a story!

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