Martin, Charles Harvey
Navy Pharmacists mate 2nd class

Charles Harvey Martin, age 22, from Kane County Elgin, Illinois .

Parents: Elizabeth Martin

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Friday, September 15, 1944
Death details: In September 1944, American forces launched Operation STALEMATE II, the invasion on Peleliu, an island in Palau. On Sept. 15, the 1st Marine Division came ashore under enemy fire. The following day, Marines secured the island’s airfield despite taking heavy casualties. The battle for Peleliu lasted another two months, as Marines were forced to clear heavily fortified pockets of Japanese resistance across the island. The 1st Marine Division, reinforced by the 81st Infantry Division, slowly advanced north under nearly constant mortar and artillery fire. The invasion of Peleliu had the highest casualty rate of all the amphibious Pacific Island invasions of World War II. Pharmacist’s Mate Second Class Charles Harvey Martin, who entered the U.S. Navy from West Virginia, served with Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. On September 15, 1944, he was serving as medical corpsman attached to Company C, when he was killed while aiding wounded Marines on Peleliu Island. His remains were thought to have been recovered at the time and buried as an “unknown” on Peleliu, but attempts to locate his remains from this area after the war have been unsuccessful. He is still unaccounted-for. Today, Pharmacist’s Mate Second Class Martin is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency