STRICKLAND, John M, Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, Service# 278540, Enl: Georgia, d. 9-Oct-1942
Drowned while crossing Sealark Channel off Solomon Islands
Parents, Benjamin and Lola Strickland
*Wife, Bernice Green Strickland (see note below)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Circumstances Of Loss
The First Battalion, 2nd Marines participated in the August landings in the Solomon Islands in August 1942 – but soon found themselves on "abysmally boring, terribly uncomfortable, and unhealthy" garrison duty on Tulagi. Among them was Corporal John Strickland, a pre-war Marine and father of a young son he had yet to meet.

On the evening of 9 October 1942, the battalion made ready for a raid against a Japanese encampment at Aola Bay on Guadalcanal's north coast. Four hundred and thirty men assembled on the beach and boarded a small fleet of eight "T Boats" – the Higgins "Eureka" model, also known as the Landing Craft Personnel, Large (LCPL) – that would ferry them across Sealark Channel to Aola. The objective was more than thirty miles away, so a pair of Yard Patrol craft ("Challenger" and "Endeavor") were assigned as tow vessels. "Four Higgins boats were towed behind each YP, but instead of securing each boat to the YP by a separate towline, the boats were tied one to the other in a column," explained William Rogal of A/1/2. "Thus the lead boat, the only one tied directly to the YP, had to bear the strain of the three loaded boats tied to its stern."

The raiding party departed at dusk, setting a very modest five knot pace across open water. The "Yippies," fishing boats pressed into wartime service, unarmed and unarmored, relying on the cover of night to cross undetected. Unfortunately, as Rogal relates, "the sky to our rear lit up with flashes of light and the booming of heavy guns reached our ears…. My discomfort was not helped by the highly visible sparks that spewed from my YP's stack." The Yippie skippers gunned their engines to escape the unknown threat.

Lieutenant Floyd E. Parks' Second Platoon occupied the first Higgins boat towed by YP-284 "Endeavor." The sudden acceleration proved too much for the plywood frame, and with a sickening splintering sound, the boat split in two and capsized. Horrified Marines weighted down by combat gear found themselves sinking to the bottom of the channel. Fourteen clung to the wreckage or surfaced in a panic; Pharmacist's Mate Eugene Baxter personally rescued ten survivors. Another fifteen Marines – including Corporal Strickland – drowned, and were never seen again.
https://missingmarines.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Note:
Source: Florida, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1823-1982
Name John Strickland
Gender Male
Age 23
Birth Date abt 1918
Marriage Date 24 Dec 1941
Marriage Place Leon, Florida, USA
Spouse Bernice Greene

Kindly provided by Contributor 47060742
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Strickland was born in rural Wakulla County, Florida, on July 27, 1918. He was raised in Ivan Precinct, just outside the county seat of Crawfordville, on a farm belonging to Aaron and Lola Strickland.

Strickland enlisted in the Marine Corps from Savannah, Georgia on December 7, 1939. In the spring of 1942, he was assigned to Company B, First Battalion, 2nd Marines. He died at sea after the Higgins boat he was aboard broke apart and sank in Sealark Channel, in transit from Tulagi to Aola, Guadalcanal.

Strickland was survived by his widow, Mrs. Bernice (Green) Strickland, an 11-month-old son, John Preston Strickland, whom he never saw, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Strickland and four brothers and four sisters. One of Strickland's brothers is in the United States Army.

Strickland was the first combat death for Wakulla County, Florida.