Dog Company

I've finished digitizing my roster at long last - two hundred and four pages, but much easier to read than the old Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

As mentioned previously, while going through some of the pages from First Battalion, I found some of the missing Able Company men listed with Dog Company. My presumption is that when the Marine Corps reorganized and the weapons companies disbanded, the survivors in each were assigned to the rifle or headquarters companies as needed.

Corporal Lee R. Anderson, Junior. Irving, Texas.

Corporal Anderson was wounded in action at some point in the War. He appears in two of Al Perry's pictures; one with his new rifle squad before embarking for Saipan:

Sergeant Frihauf's squad. Lee Anderson is at the far right of the front row.











He is also listed in the photograph of survivors of the Tinian banzai attack.

Until recently, a Lee R. Anderson, Junior, age 85, was listed as living in Irving, Texas.



PFC (later Sergeant) John W. Donahue, Junior.

Sergeant Donahue appears in the photograph of Tinian survivors. I don't know much else about him at present, though initial searches indicate that he was born February 28, 1921, and died July 2, 1997, in New Jersey. If this is correct, he is buried in St. Anne's Cemetery, Belmar, NJ.

There is no indication that Donahue was wounded during the war.

PFC (later Corporal) Glenn Edgar Doster. Perrysburg, OH. SN 448508.

Doster was born March 12, 1922. He deployed with Dog Company as a PFC, and was promoted to Corporal by the time of the Tinian campaign. He was awarded a Silver Star for gallantry during the July 25 banzai attack on Tinian. Doster appears in the photograph of survivors of Tinian, but was wounded at some point during his service. His listed his next of kin as his mother, Mrs. Faye Snyder, of Perrysburg OH.

Glenn Doster died February 21, 1978, in Sumter, Florida.

Master Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Eugene Drake.

Thomas Drake enlisted on February 6, 1936, in St. Louis, Missouri. Shortly after, he was transferred to the training depot at San Diego. By April, he had been assigned to Company D, First Battalion, Sixth Marines, Second Marine Brigade; in September he transferred to Company C of the same regiment. By November, he was back with D Company.

Drake started off 1937 with his company on board the USS Utah. The Utah, a World War One era battlewagon, was by this point a gunnery training vessel. It was later destroyed during the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

Thomas Drake continued with his training, and on June 24, 1937, qualified as a Marksman with the 1903 Springfield rifle. The next month, he was awarded his badge for completing Basic training, as well as qualifying as a Sharpshooter with the Browning Machine Gun.

(The USMC had three different levels of proficiency with their weapons; Marksman, Sharpshooter, and Expert. These were determined towards the end of Basic, and badges were awarded for a variety of weapons. Marines had to shoot at least well enough to qualify as a Marksman before graduating from Basic. Drake's good score with a machine gun, noted on his record as "SS BMG Bar," would be consistent with his later high rank in a Weapons company.)

In August of 1937, Private Drake and Company D were embarked on the USS Chaumont, bound for Shanghai, China.

The Sixth Marines were being rushed to the Chinese city to reinforce the Fourth Marines, who were defending the European settlement during the Japanese attack on Shanghai.

Drake stayed in Shanghai until February, 1938, when his enlistment records noted that his company was back on the Chaumont. They stopped off in Guam en route to Honolulu. The following month, Company D was posted to the USS Oklahoma, off the coast of Maui. This would be the second ship that Drake served on to be sunk at Pearl Harbor; the Oklahoma and the Utah were two of three battleships that would never return to service. The Sixth spent at most a month aboard the Oklahoma, and were then redeployed to San Diego.

During this time, Drake alternated between Companies C and D of the Sixth Marines. The reasons for these changes are not apparent, Drake's service records don't show any particular merits, but nor do they show any black marks.

In July of 1938, Drake, who had evidently been practicing at the rifle range, re-qualified as an Expert rifleman; in August he shot Expert with the Browning Automatic Rifle at Camp Kearney. His prowess was rewarded with a promotion to Private First Class, and he went on furlough from October 13 to November 10.

In early 1939, PFC Drake and several others from his company were temporarily detached to attend Elementary Machine Gun School on San Clemente Island. The course lasted for thirteen days. Drake returned to San Clemente in April, 1939, aboard the USS Arizona, where he attended another riflery course. He took another furlough from mid July to mid August.

In September of 1939, Drake was promoted to Corporal.

January of 1940 saw Drake posted to the HQ company of the Sixth Marines. His record indicates that he was "obligated to serve 4 years" in the USMC Reserve; his enlistment expired on February 5, and he reenlisted effective February 6.

Drake had a busy year, in which he disappears from records for a few months. In June he moved to the General Service Unit of the Ninth Reserve District, then later he transferred to Company A of the Seventh Defense Battalion.

Between 1940 and 1943, Thomas Drake rose in rank from Corporal in the regular Corps to Master Gunnery Sergeant of the Reserve. His service with the 24th was evidently very good; he appeared in the photograph of survivors of Tinian, and was wounded while holding the rank of Second Lieutenant. Drake was of the few enlisted men in the Corps to break into the officer's caste - a "mustang."

PFC (later Corporal) William A. Peck.

Little is known about Corporal Peck, except that he was among the survivors of Tinian.

PFC (later Corporal) Joseph M. Peterpaul

Corporal Peterpaul survived through Tinian; there is no record of his being wounded in the service.

PFC (later Corporal) James H. Pritchett.

Corporal Pritchett served through Tinian and appears in the photograph of survivors. There is a Corporal James H. Pritchett listed as wounded in action; he listed his parents in Forsyth, Georgia as his next of kin.