World War II Honoree

Charles C. Curtis

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Portsmouth, Ohio

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private First Class. On January 20, 1942, he was inducted into the United States Marine Corps at Cincinnati, Ohio. His boot camp training took place with the Fifth 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 with the Twenty-Second Marine Regiment in the Territory of Hawaii, assigned to Fox Company, Second Battalion and Fifth Amphibious Corps. He died in the Line of Duty during a training accident, while participating in field maneuvers on Pauwela Point, Hawaii. Two U.S. Navy SBD-Dauntless Dive Bombers carrying live ordnance collided over the Point on December 6, 1943, and one bomb was dislodged, detonating among the trainees. Twenty Marines lost their lives and twenty five were injured from this incident. This Marine was interred in the Makawao Cemetery, Wailukii, Hawaii. After the cessation of hostilities with Japan, the family of this Marine received his remains for burial, and re-interred in an unidentified cemetery in Ohio.