WWII Marine Grouping

[Patrick_Neanover]

John Milan Barto

 

DOB: February 12, 1924

DOD: June 02, 2008

 

Birthplace: Lorain, Ohio

 

John would be attached to 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, 3rd Marine Division as a Automatic Rifleman.

 

Following the invasion of Guam, 3rd Battalion spent two months conducting 'mopping up' operations on the island until November, when it received orders to prepare for operations against Iwo Jima. From November until February 1945, they took part in a training regimen so serious that a fellow battalion later reported at least 20% of its members were incapacitated due to foot and heat injuries. During the Battle of Iwo Jima, 3rd Battalion, as part of 3rd Marines, was kept offshore as the Expeditionary Troops reserve. According to one 3rd Battalion veteran, some Marines from the battalion came ashore to unload supplies or with other units that they had recently transferred to. After sitting off Iwo Jima in their transport ships for a month, the 3rd Marines were ordered to return to Guam on 5 March 1945.

 

Back on Guam, 3rd Battalion began training for a landing on Miyako Jima, an island just south of Okinawa. Those orders were eventually cancelled, but the battalion still saw minor combat in 1945, participating in two operations on Guam designed to capture Japanese soldiers still holding out in the hills. These sweeps took place in April and December 1945.

 

After the operations in Guam he would participated in the occupation of Japan in 1946. Once discharged he would come back to his home town and spend the rest of his life there.

[Patrick_Neanover]

Some more picturs

[Patrick_Neanover]

Burial and obituary

[Stinger Gunner USMC]

I have a 5th Marine Division grouping named to a "Barto" I wonder if they were related

[Patrick_Neanover]

What was his full name? Or do you have a picture of the stamping?