Anderson, Marlyn B.
Army Private 1st class
Marlyn B. Anderson from Wyoming, Goshen county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Saturday, November 28, 1942
Death details: In early 1942, the Japanese High Command began a campaign to take control of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in an effort to cut off American and Australian naval routes and supply lines. From July through November, Allied forces solidified defenses to stop the Japanese advance, and from November 1942 to January 1943, attempted to capture the Solomon Islands. The Japanese had set up significant, almost impenetrable, defenses on the islands, concealed in areas of dense jungle, forcing Allied forces into separated and restricted columns of attack. As they approached Buna, the American and Australian troops faced a network of highly organized, mutually supporting bunkers fitted with reinforced walls, natural camouflage, and supplies. As a result of these difficulties, the first series of Allied attacks were defeated, demoralizing the troops and depleting their resources. It was not until December 2 that the Allies had any significant victories, and fighting in the area would continue until January 22, 1943. Fighting continued on the north coast of New Guinea into 1944, as Allied forces pushed the Japanese farther to the north and west. This campaign included retaking Japanese strongholds at Lae, Finschhafen, and Saidor. Private First Class Marlyn B. Anderson, who entered the U.S. Army from Wyoming, and was serving with Company M of the 126th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division, when it took part in the New Guinea campaign. He was lost on November 28, 1942, during fighting along the Sanananda road. Battlefield conditions during the New Guinea campaign often made it difficult to process and inter the remains of fallen personnel, and many were buried by their fellow soldiers in makeshift graves. After the war, the American Graves Registration Service searched Papua New Guinea for these burial sites, and identified and re-interred the remains they could locate; however, PFC Anderson’s remains were not among those found. Today, Private First Class Anderson is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Cemetery: Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery
Source: National Archives, American Battle Commission, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency