World War II Honoree

Claire Eulin Goldtrap

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Hobart, Oklahoma

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Corporal. He was inducted into the United States Marine Corps June 18, 1940 at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and completed his basic training with the First Recruit Battalion Training Regiment; Marine Corps Base in San Diego, California. Upon his graduation from Boot Camp, he was transferred to Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California for his combat training. Served as a Tank Crewman in the Tracked Landing Vehicle AKA: Alligator, LVT-1, with the Second Marine Division in the Central Pacific Theater of Operations, assigned to Alpha Company and Second Amphibious Tractor Battalion. 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 July of 2016 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 Honolulu’s laboratory for analysis, where he was identified. The family of this Marine received his remains for burial. He was laid to rest with Military Honors, April 10, 2019 at the Rose Cemetery in Hobart, Oklahoma. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.