World War II Honoree

Joseph P. Bandauski

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Monee, Illinois

Honored By

Trevor Bandauski

Relationship

Grandson

He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1944 and joined Company A, 5th Pioneer Battalion, 5th Marine Division. After engineer training at Camp Pendleton and Camp Tarawa, he sailed with Task Force 51 for Operation Detachment. On 19 Feb 1945 he landed with the first assault wave on Red Beach 1, Iwo Jima, under intense mortar and machine-gun fire. Serving as a combat engineer, he cleared mines and obstacles, built supply lanes, and constructed forward positions while accompanying infantry across the island’s volcanic terrain. He remained in action for the entire 36-day campaign, supporting the 26th, 27th, and 28th Marine Regiments and repairing routes to Motoyama Airfields 1 & 2. During the final Japanese counterattack near Airfield 2 on 25–26 Mar 1945, he helped man a hasty defensive line; the battalion repelled the infiltration after 90 minutes of hand-to-hand fighting, suffering 9 KIA and 40 WIA while accounting for nearly 200 enemy dead. The island was declared secure on 26 Mar 1945. Following Iwo Jima, he performed occupation duty on Kyushu until late 1945 and was released from active service in December. Campaign participation credit: Iwo Jima (Volcano-Ryukyu Campaign). Authorized awards include the Presidential Unit Citation (Assault Troops, V Amphibious Corps, 19–28 Feb 1945), Navy Unit Commendation (Support Troops, V Amphibious Corps, 19–28 Feb 1945), Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with one battle star, and the World War II Victory Medal.