This is the USMC combat musette bag carried by Gunnery Sergeant George Edward Tucker. It is named and UNIS marked in yellow to him and his unit, HQ/2/3. The bag is 1941 dated and manufactured by Atlantic Products Co, it has significant wear especially on the side pocket and a modification has been added to allow the carrier to attach a shovel. 

 

Before going into how George ended up landing on Guam on 21 July 1944, I wanted to tell the story of how he tragically lost his life in combat alongside his men. This account was told by his CO, 2nd Lt. Ira K. “Blackie” Blackbird.

“I will begin the day before George was hit, because my own wounding enters into it. On July 22, 1944, we were having quite a time with the N*ps, and they immediately began to fire mortars at us. Their counterattacks were taking a heavy toll on lives. Late in the afternoon, they dropped a shell into my C.P., causing considerable damage. I was wounded, and before I was evacuated to a hospital ship, I called George to me and told him to take charge and carry the boys through. He was a good leader and brave.

 

The rest of what I am going to say is from men who were there and later told it to me. George took over the platoon all right. He plastered those N*ps day and night. His judgment, coolness under fire, and command qualities won him the admiration and respect of the entire Second Battalion.

 

July 23 was a red-hot day and night. George continued to hit the enemy with devastatingly accurate fire. At about midnight, the N*ps made a Banzai attack, for they had found where George had the mortar by the muzzle blast. They spotted his position and started to shell it. One shell hit a tree directly above George’s C.P. and exploded, sending steel in all directions, and a piece of steel pierced George’s skull.

 

The corpsman, disregarding his own life, crawled out and brought back a doctor, and everything possible was done, but to no avail.

 

George is buried in the Marine Corps cemetery on Guam Island, Mariana Group. He was buried with conventional military honours, and his grave is marked by a small white cross bearing his name.

 

My wounds are completely healed, and I have my same platoon back, but it’s not as good as the last one because a platoon like that comes only once in a lifetime. The platoon of which George was Gy. Sgt. was commended for its fine work on Guam.

 

George was a great Marine, and he loved his wife and baby. Though he only saw his son in pictures, he was a proud father. His wife, as you know, is the former Mary Van Vooren of Rock Valley.”

 

Born on 8 November 1918 in Georgetown, Oklahoma, George enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on 27 June 1939 in California and was assigned to the Marine detachment aboard the USS Saratoga (CV-3). From 1940 to 1942, he transferred from Saratoga to the USS Lexington (CV-2). While serving aboard Lexington, the carrier participated in the Battle of the Coral Sea. After Lexington was attacked, Tucker, alongside the other crew members, abandoned ship on 8 May 1942 and was picked up by the USS Hamann (DD-412) before being transferred to the USS Barnett (APA-5) and later the USS Chester (CA-27).

 

He continued to serve until his enlistment ended and had his enlistment extended by two more years on 27 June 1943. He left the Marine detachment as a corporal.

 

From July 1943 until January 1944, he moved between infantry battalions, gained the rank of sergeant, and began training on 60mm mortars, graduating from the course in November 1943. In January 1944, he joined H/2/3 and was promoted to platoon sergeant. Finally, in June 1944, he was promoted to Gunnery Sergeant and transferred to HQ/2/3, the unit with which he landed on Guam and the same unit indicated on his musette bag.

 

On Thursday, May 24 1944, at 12 o’clock noon, Sacramento paid tribute to Gunnery Sergeant Tucker, husband of the former Mary Van Vooren of Rock Valley, with a memorial high Mass sung by Rev. David Harrison, chaplain at the San Diego Marine Base. Flags throughout the city were flown at half-mast all day, and businesses closed during the memorial service.

Servicemen from the Sacramento Army Air Base, along with those home on furlough, filed into the church following the colour guard from the Marine barracks at Mare Island. Chaplain Kempker, who had taken part in the burial of Marines on Guam, later sent Mrs. George Tucker a photograph of the cemetery where George was buried.

Superb pack and write up on this one!!!