World War II Honoree

Harry Sherwood Gates

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Heber, Utah

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Sergeant. On September 13, 1940, he was inducted into the United States Marine Corps at Denver, Colorado. His boot camp training took place with the Third 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 requested that his remains be buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific ‘Punchbowl’, with interment February 7, 1949.