Navy Cross & PH KIA

[manayunkman]

I just want to thank everyone who has commented on this medal group. I have always admired it and enjoyed the fact that I own it. In recent days it has taken on a whole new meaning. I got this some time ago and don't remember all the details of the transaction but I think the family thought that the documents were more important.

 

M.

[KASTAUFFER]

I have never owned a USMC KIA Purple Heart named to a Staff Sergeant before, nor do I recall having seen one.

 

I was surprised to see how Staff Sergeant was abbreviated. I guess I maybe would have expected S Sgt or maybe SSGT I guess?

 

Can anyone else weigh on on if this was the standard way / typically seen way normally used to engrave that rank on USMC named Purple Hearts?

 

Glad that you were able to give this set a good home.

 

MW

 

 

Hi Mike

 

I have one to a Staff Sgt, and the abbreviation is the same as this example.

 

Kurt

[vicjoy1945]

I have never owned a USMC KIA Purple Heart named to a Staff Sergeant before, nor do I recall having seen one.

 

I was surprised to see how Staff Sergeant was abbreviated. I guess I maybe would have expected S Sgt or maybe SSGT I guess?

 

Can anyone else weigh on on if this was the standard way / typically seen way normally used to engrave that rank on USMC named Purple Hearts?

 

Glad that you were able to give this set a good home.

 

MW

 

 

Hey Mike !

 

I have seen them abbreviated this way. In fact, I have a posthumous USMC Purple Heart to former Raider who was wounded on Guam and then subsequently KIA on Okinawa. His rank was Platoon Sergeant and I believe the rank is engraved al PLT SGT on his Purple Heart if memory serves me correctly

 

M. - Very nice pair to a gallant Marine...thanks for showing :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

Vic

[vicjoy1945]

Hey Mike !

 

I have seen them abbreviated this way. In fact, I have a posthumous USMC Purple Heart to former Raider who was wounded on Guam and then subsequently KIA on Okinawa. His rank was Platoon Sergeant and I believe the rank is engraved al PLT SGT on his Purple Heart if memory serves me correctly

 

M. - Very nice pair to a gallant Marine...thanks for showing :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

Vic

[manayunkman]

You are welcome.

 

Does anyone know how to find out what he did as a Raider ?

 

M.

[Jack's Son]

No need to ask that question again!!

 

I've learned after several years, that there are as many answers as there are stars in the sky. Unless you are able to ask the family directly, you will NEVER know !! :thumbsup:

[manayunkman]

The reason I ask is that I see plenty of other threads where things have been found out about people. I just want to know where he was as a Raider. Don't need to know what he did from day to day. Funny just last week what he did wasn't a priority. If anybody knows anything about what unit he was in or where he went please let me know.

 

M.

[Jack's Son]

.......... I just want to know where he was as a Raider.......... .................... If anybody knows anything about what unit he was in or where he went please let me know.

M.

S/Sgt. Thomas Joseph Allen USMC, S/N; 350828. Company C, First Battalion, Fourth Marines, SIXTH Marine Division

 

Born; Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, KIA Okinawa May 23, 1945.

 

I will have a causality card for you tomorrow.

 

In the meantime, do your research at this link........ http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/

[manayunkman]

S/Sgt. Thomas Joseph Allen USMC, S/N; 350828. Company C, First Battalion, Fourth Marines, SIXTH Marine Division

 

Born; Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, KIA Okinawa May 23, 1945.

 

I will have a causality card for you tomorrow.

 

In the meantime, do your research at this link........ http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/

 

 

Thank you

 

Where do I go to find out what Raider unit he was in and when ? Is there a roster of the Raider units somewhere ? I have been on the internet many time looking for Allen and information on the Raiders. Any help in this direction is much appreciated.

 

M.

[Jack's Son]

Where do I go to find out what Raider unit he was in and when ? Is there a roster of the Raider units somewhere ? I have been on the internet many time looking for Allen and information on the Raiders. Any help in this direction is much appreciated.

M.

Write to St.Louis for his 201 file, and to Army Personnel Command for his IDPF file. Do I search on the forum for information on how to request said reports.

 

Also, refer to the link I gave you. DIG around and you will find information on Allen's unit, and its progress through the war. His name will not be mentioned, and there are no rosters, but you will learn about the raiders and the units movement.

 

Again, use the search engine here to locate information about the raiders, as well as Google the name.

[tom2001]

Thank you

 

Where do I go to find out what Raider unit he was in and when ? Is there a roster of the Raider units somewhere ? I have been on the internet many time looking for Allen and information on the Raiders. Any help in this direction is much appreciated.

 

M.

 

If you did the Google search of "Thomas J. Allen Marine Raider" (without the quotes) the second hit you get is this site:

 

http://www.usmarineraiders.org/navycross.htm

 

which shows Allen served with Company C, 1st Marine Raider Battalion.

 

Browsing through that same site, you turn up a brief chronology of the 1st Marine Raider Battalion, with links to further pages with detailed information about their combat operations:

 

http://www.usmarineraiders.org/chron1stbn.html

 

You'll also see on that same page that the 1st Marine Raider Battalion was redesignated 1st Battalion, 4th Marines (6th Marine Division) in Feb 1944. That is the unit that Allen was serving with when he was KIA.

[manayunkman]

This is all new to me and I kind of feel like an idiot. I started putting 2 and 2 together when I read that the Marine Raiders went into the 4th Marines. I've been reading on the Raiders when I realized that I already had the info. on what unit he was in. The different Raider Battalions became the same battalions in the 4th Marines. Duh :blushing:

 

Thanks to all for being so patient with me. And I appreciate the web sites. I am going there next.

 

M.

[devildog34]

Very amazing and sad pair. On the night of the 22nd of May the 4th Marines who had just participated in the horrendous and bloody reduction of Sugar Loaf Hill situated in the heart of the Shuri defense line had moved into position to participate in the reduction of Japanese positions beyond the banks of the Asato River near Naha. A steady drizzling rain quickly grew into a heavy down pour and had created mass mud pools at the bottom of gullies and foxholes. Moving toward the river, pockets of surviving Japanese from the remnants of the defense line near Sugar Loaf were encountered. Elements of 1/4 3/4 and 1/22 began to situate themselves into position for that assault to capture the highground on the North bank of the Asato River. The approach towards the southern banks of the river occurred under intense fire from Japanese artillery and machine gun emplacements near the small village of Machishi. The arrival of tanks was of little solace in the horrendously thick mud. The intense artillery bombardment caught tanks trapped in the mud in the open and many were lost. Supplying Marines on the southern bank of the Asato River became an increasing dilemma since traffic to the routes to the Marines' position was not only under horrendously heavy fire, but the massive mud slicks prevented any automobile traffic from getting anywhere near the lines. The only means of supply was by foot. Ammo and ration parties braved the heavy barrage to bring up the needed resources to conduct a crossing. Meanwhile engineers worked to get a bridge across but found that the heavy enemy fire was much too obstructive to their efforts. When darkness came a bridge in the form of several amtracs that had been run aground in a row connecting the river's banks acted as a makeshift bridge. The approach towards the stream's crossing point was described as "little more than a crawl in that continuous mud." It was during this 48 period that Ssgt Allen gave his life. He was no doubt one of the members of those numerous ammo parties that braved the withering barrage to get vital supplies to the front at the cost of his own life.

 

The reduction of the Shuri defenses which included Sugar Loaf Hill, Naha, Oroku Peninsula has certainly not received the level of attention and understanding of the circumstances surrounding the fight for them like places such as the Meat Grinder or Cushman's pocket on Iwo Jima or the Matakai River at Guadalcanal but this was among the most horrendous physical and mental endurances that any soldier sailor and Marine had to endure in the entire Pacific Campaign. Okinawa as perhaps in a sense worse than Iwo Jima since it was a battle fought well after the tide had turned in favor of the allies yet certainly not devoid of the same all-to-familiar and unique hell that warfare in the Pacific offered. God bless these guys who gave it all and for those who left their naive sense of human kind behind in that mad psychotic and emotionally draining hell that was Okinawa in the Spring and early summer of 1945. I can only imagine that a lot of hope and faith died with those whose lives were spared on that island and who left their spirit with the comrades who left their lives in such a undignified and violent manner.

 

If you need help with getting his service records I am sure there are many who have already given you great info but I will be happy to forward you the info I have to obtain records but I'm guessing that many other forum members have been willing to help you with that endeavor. Jack son's has already been on top of obtaining the casualty card for you from the reference branch of the Marine Corps History division in Quantico. This will give you basic info and most importantly his service number which given his decoration is already available through a seperate publication call Marine Heroes. I have probably over 1,000 individual personel files for Marines NPRC from PreWWI-WWII and I assure you his file will shed some light on things not to mention give you a photograph of him. I wish you luck on this feel free to contact me or any of the other guys who've posted here if you have questions on the process of getting his records.

Semper Fi,

Kevin

[manayunkman]

Very amazing and sad pair. On the night of the 22nd of May the 4th Marines who had just participated in the horrendous and bloody reduction of Sugar Loaf Hill situated in the heart of the Shuri defense line had moved into position to participate in the reduction of Japanese positions beyond the banks of the Asato River near Naha. A steady drizzling rain quickly grew into a heavy down pour and had created mass mud pools at the bottom of gullies and foxholes. Moving toward the river, pockets of surviving Japanese from the remnants of the defense line near Sugar Loaf were encountered. Elements of 1/4 3/4 and 1/22 began to situate themselves into position for that assault to capture the highground on the North bank of the Asato River. The approach towards the southern banks of the river occurred under intense fire from Japanese artillery and machine gun emplacements near the small village of Machishi. The arrival of tanks was of little solace in the horrendously thick mud. The intense artillery bombardment caught tanks trapped in the mud in the open and many were lost. Supplying Marines on the southern bank of the Asato River became an increasing dilemma since traffic to the routes to the Marines' position was not only under horrendously heavy fire, but the massive mud slicks prevented any automobile traffic from getting anywhere near the lines. The only means of supply was by foot. Ammo and ration parties braved the heavy barrage to bring up the needed resources to conduct a crossing. Meanwhile engineers worked to get a bridge across but found that the heavy enemy fire was much too obstructive to their efforts. When darkness came a bridge in the form of several amtracs that had been run aground in a row connecting the river's banks acted as a makeshift bridge. The approach towards the stream's crossing point was described as "little more than a crawl in that continuous mud." It was during this 48 period that Ssgt Allen gave his life. He was no doubt one of the members of those numerous ammo parties that braved the withering barrage to get vital supplies to the front at the cost of his own life.

 

The reduction of the Shuri defenses which included Sugar Loaf Hill, Naha, Oroku Peninsula has certainly not received the level of attention and understanding of the circumstances surrounding the fight for them like places such as the Meat Grinder or Cushman's pocket on Iwo Jima or the Matakai River at Guadalcanal but this was among the most horrendous physical and mental endurances that any soldier sailor and Marine had to endure in the entire Pacific Campaign. Okinawa as perhaps in a sense worse than Iwo Jima since it was a battle fought well after the tide had turned in favor of the allies yet certainly not devoid of the same all-to-familiar and unique hell that warfare in the Pacific offered. God bless these guys who gave it all and for those who left their naive sense of human kind behind in that mad psychotic and emotionally draining hell that was Okinawa in the Spring and early summer of 1945. I can only imagine that a lot of hope and faith died with those whose lives were spared on that island and who left their spirit with the comrades who left their lives in such a undignified and violent manner.

 

If you need help with getting his service records I am sure there are many who have already given you great info but I will be happy to forward you the info I have to obtain records but I'm guessing that many other forum members have been willing to help you with that endeavor. Jack son's has already been on top of obtaining the casualty card for you from the reference branch of the Marine Corps History division in Quantico. This will give you basic info and most importantly his service number which given his decoration is already available through a seperate publication call Marine Heroes. I have probably over 1,000 individual personel files for Marines NPRC from PreWWI-WWII and I assure you his file will shed some light on things not to mention give you a photograph of him. I wish you luck on this feel free to contact me or any of the other guys who've posted here if you have questions on the process of getting his records.

Semper Fi,

Kevin

 

Thank you Kevin for the insight into what it was like during the time Allan was killed. I can't stress how much everyones help has meant to me. I have had this grouping for many years and this history lay dormant. Funny I had the medals on display in a case with a Raider patch and Paramarine patch. Sold the patches back in June. They were not any relation to the medals.

[Jack's Son]

I have sent his Causality Card to you via PM. Give a look!

 

Good luck with the hunt. :thumbsup:

[vicjoy1945]

Hey Kevin !!

 

Fantastic and heart-felt post...excellent and eloquent work !!

 

Coincidentally, I have a posthumous USMC Purple Heart to a former 1st Raider Bn Marine who was killed in action on Okinawa just 2 days later then Sgt Allen on May 24, 1945. He was serving with B Co 1/4 6th Marine Division. I bet these guys knew each other and were possibly buddies....sharing the same mud and blood for much of the war. God bless em...

 

Thanks for posting !!

 

Vic

[manayunkman]

I have sent his Causality Card to you via PM. Give a look!

 

Good luck with the hunt. :thumbsup:

 

Got the card. It opened up no problem. It looks like he might have been with the 1st battalion since it's creation. I certainly got an education on how to research. Thank you Jack's son and all the others for hanging with me. I am so glad that after many years of just driving by the forum I finally joined.

 

M.

[manayunkman]

Hey Kevin !!

 

Fantastic and heart-felt post...excellent and eloquent work !!

 

Coincidentally, I have a posthumous USMC Purple Heart to a former 1st Raider Bn Marine who was killed in action on Okinawa just 2 days later then Sgt Allen on May 24, 1945. He was serving with B Co 1/4 6th Marine Division. I bet these guys knew each other and were possibly buddies....sharing the same mud and blood for much of the war. God bless em...

 

Thanks for posting !!

 

Vic

 

Vic,

 

Thanks for chiming in. I feel we are almost related. Did you ever get any other information about your Raider that you could share ?

 

M.

[Raidercollector]

Very Nice group, Very hard to fine,Thanks for sharing.

Nick

[manayunkman]

Very Nice group, Very hard to fine,Thanks for sharing.

Nick

 

Thank you Nick,

 

As a Raider collector I'm sure you do appreciate this group.

 

M.

[Raidercollector]

yes i do appreciate it very much. can;t wait to see the research. glad it found a good hom e. see if you can get copy's of the documents!

 

Nick

[manayunkman]

Please the forum member from Troy Il. who got the all the Allen documentation for me PLEASE PM me.

[mes]

PM on the way. Mark

[manayunkman]

I have an update on Thomas Allen. One of the forum members was able to get me more information about him. Turns out that he was nearly court martialed for attempted theft while under the influence and disrespected an officer. He was also cook for HQ, Co. E and F 2nd Raider Battalion. He continued as Mess Sgt. in the 4th Marines. It is with this unit that he volunteered to carry ammunition for an MG squad on Ryukyu Island. After many amo carries he was hit several times while giving covering fire to several wounded members of the MG squad. Allen gave his life so that these other men could be brought to safety. Though suffering several wounds it was a neck wound that ended his life.

 

Also attached is a photo of Allen.

 

 

Many thanks to MES for securing this information for me. I have always cherished this small group but now I have an even deeper respect and appreciation for it. Amazing that it has been entrusted to me

[manayunkman]

Now in the for sale section.