USMCR World War II
PFC George H. Bates MIA/KIA location Solomon Islands, date of loss October 9, 1942
Cause - Reason Drowned, Suffocated
Unit Company B, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines 2nd Marine Division, FMF
Hometown:Riverbank California /Independence Kansas
Mother, Mrs. Jennie F. Bates
service# 322630
Awards: World War II Victory Medal, Purple Heart
Guadalcanal
On October 9, 1942, Lieutenant Parks called his platoon together for a briefing. They were finally leaving Tulagi and heading for the fighting on Guadalcanal and would be making a combat landing at the village of Aola. The platoon spent the day combat loading their packs. That evening, Second Platoon climbed into a Higgins boat tethered to a YP craft that would tow them the twenty miles from Tulagi to Aola. Night had fallen by the time they reached the center of Sealark Channel; the plywood Higgins boats groaning and creaking under the strain of their load. Each YP boat towed four Higgins boats lashed together in a chain, which meant the first boat in the chain took the most stress.
PFC Bates and his platoon were in the first boat when their YP suddenly increased its speed, the plywood hull of the Higgins boat split in half. Second Platoonwere thrown into the channel. Loaded down as they were for a combat landing, many of the Marines never had a chance to get out of their gear. Fourteen Marines of Second Platoon, including George Bates, drowned in the channel, vanishing without a trace.
Private Bates appears Tablets of the Missing Manila American Cemetery and Memorial Manila National Capital, Philippines. This memorial is a cenotaph memorial, his body was never recovered.
Details of career here.
1/2 was reactivated in June 1942 deployed to the Pacific theater of World War II. While there, the unit participated in the bloody "island hopping" campaign, fighting at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa.
PFC George H. Bates MIA/KIA location Solomon Islands, date of loss October 9, 1942
Cause - Reason Drowned, Suffocated
Unit Company B, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines 2nd Marine Division, FMF
Hometown:Riverbank California /Independence Kansas
Mother, Mrs. Jennie F. Bates
service# 322630
Awards: World War II Victory Medal, Purple Heart
Guadalcanal
On October 9, 1942, Lieutenant Parks called his platoon together for a briefing. They were finally leaving Tulagi and heading for the fighting on Guadalcanal and would be making a combat landing at the village of Aola. The platoon spent the day combat loading their packs. That evening, Second Platoon climbed into a Higgins boat tethered to a YP craft that would tow them the twenty miles from Tulagi to Aola. Night had fallen by the time they reached the center of Sealark Channel; the plywood Higgins boats groaning and creaking under the strain of their load. Each YP boat towed four Higgins boats lashed together in a chain, which meant the first boat in the chain took the most stress.
PFC Bates and his platoon were in the first boat when their YP suddenly increased its speed, the plywood hull of the Higgins boat split in half. Second Platoonwere thrown into the channel. Loaded down as they were for a combat landing, many of the Marines never had a chance to get out of their gear. Fourteen Marines of Second Platoon, including George Bates, drowned in the channel, vanishing without a trace.
Private Bates appears Tablets of the Missing Manila American Cemetery and Memorial Manila National Capital, Philippines. This memorial is a cenotaph memorial, his body was never recovered.
Details of career here.
1/2 was reactivated in June 1942 deployed to the Pacific theater of World War II. While there, the unit participated in the bloody "island hopping" campaign, fighting at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa.
USMCR World War II
PFC George H. Bates MIA/KIA location Solomon Islands, date of loss October 9, 1942
Cause - Reason Drowned, Suffocated
Unit Company B, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines 2nd Marine Division, FMF
Hometown:Riverbank California /Independence Kansas
Mother, Mrs. Jennie F. Bates
service# 322630
Awards: World War II Victory Medal, Purple Heart
Guadalcanal
On October 9, 1942, Lieutenant Parks called his platoon together for a briefing. They were finally leaving Tulagi and heading for the fighting on Guadalcanal and would be making a combat landing at the village of Aola. The platoon spent the day combat loading their packs. That evening, Second Platoon climbed into a Higgins boat tethered to a YP craft that would tow them the twenty miles from Tulagi to Aola. Night had fallen by the time they reached the center of Sealark Channel; the plywood Higgins boats groaning and creaking under the strain of their load. Each YP boat towed four Higgins boats lashed together in a chain, which meant the first boat in the chain took the most stress.
PFC Bates and his platoon were in the first boat when their YP suddenly increased its speed, the plywood hull of the Higgins boat split in half. Second Platoonwere thrown into the channel. Loaded down as they were for a combat landing, many of the Marines never had a chance to get out of their gear. Fourteen Marines of Second Platoon, including George Bates, drowned in the channel, vanishing without a trace.
Private Bates appears Tablets of the Missing Manila American Cemetery and Memorial Manila National Capital, Philippines. This memorial is a cenotaph memorial, his body was never recovered.
Details of career here.
1/2 was reactivated in June 1942 deployed to the Pacific theater of World War II. While there, the unit participated in the bloody "island hopping" campaign, fighting at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa.
PFC George H. Bates MIA/KIA location Solomon Islands, date of loss October 9, 1942
Cause - Reason Drowned, Suffocated
Unit Company B, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines 2nd Marine Division, FMF
Hometown:Riverbank California /Independence Kansas
Mother, Mrs. Jennie F. Bates
service# 322630
Awards: World War II Victory Medal, Purple Heart
Guadalcanal
On October 9, 1942, Lieutenant Parks called his platoon together for a briefing. They were finally leaving Tulagi and heading for the fighting on Guadalcanal and would be making a combat landing at the village of Aola. The platoon spent the day combat loading their packs. That evening, Second Platoon climbed into a Higgins boat tethered to a YP craft that would tow them the twenty miles from Tulagi to Aola. Night had fallen by the time they reached the center of Sealark Channel; the plywood Higgins boats groaning and creaking under the strain of their load. Each YP boat towed four Higgins boats lashed together in a chain, which meant the first boat in the chain took the most stress.
PFC Bates and his platoon were in the first boat when their YP suddenly increased its speed, the plywood hull of the Higgins boat split in half. Second Platoonwere thrown into the channel. Loaded down as they were for a combat landing, many of the Marines never had a chance to get out of their gear. Fourteen Marines of Second Platoon, including George Bates, drowned in the channel, vanishing without a trace.
Private Bates appears Tablets of the Missing Manila American Cemetery and Memorial Manila National Capital, Philippines. This memorial is a cenotaph memorial, his body was never recovered.
Details of career here.
1/2 was reactivated in June 1942 deployed to the Pacific theater of World War II. While there, the unit participated in the bloody "island hopping" campaign, fighting at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa.
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PFC US MARINE CORPS
WORLD WAR II
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