World War II Honoree

Paul David Gilman

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Belen, New Mexico

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private First Class. On January 5, 1942, he was inducted into the United States Marine Corps at Denver, Colorado. His boot camp training took place with Seventh Recruit Battalion, Training Regiment; Marine Corps Base in San Diego, California. Later he completed his Marine Combat Training at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California. Served as a Rifleman with the Second Marine Division in the Central Pacific Theater of Operations, assigned to Mike Company ‘Heavy Weapons’, Third Battalion and Eighth Marine Regiment. His division participated in the amphibious assault against the Imperial Japanese forces in the Battle of Tarawa. The combat engagement took place on the Island of Betio, located on the Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands Code Name: Operation Galvanic. Reported missing in action, lost at sea Saturday, November 20, 1943 on the first day of the invasion. His name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at the Honolulu National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific ‘Punchbowl’ Hawaii. In June of 2015, the history flight, a private organization, discovered a collective burial grave on Betio Island. The remains were transferred to the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency laboratory in Honolulu, where he was identified. The remains of this Marine were interred with Military Honors, October 26, 2018 at the Terrace Grove Cemetery in Belen, New Mexico. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.