Marine Corps PFC Theodore Robert Herbig, 20, killed in World War II, was buried at sea.
Born October 12, 1923, in Freeport, Illinois, Theodore Robert Herbig was the oldest son and fourth of eleven children blessed to the union of Edward Robert and Lauretta C (nee Lamm) Herbig.
Private First Class Herbig was with his brothers in Easy Company, 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Marines (E-2/2) when they landed on Betio as part of Operation: GALVANIC. The mission of the 2nd Marine Division was to secure the island in order to control the Japanese airstrip in the Tarawa Atoll; thereby preventing the Japanese Imperial forces from getting closer to the United States, and enabling US forces to get closer to mainland Japan. It would become one of the bloodiest battles in the Corps history.
It was November 21, 1943 (D+1 for the “Battle of Tarawa”), when young Teddy - just 20 years old - perished. He was reportedly ceremonially buried at sea after receiving wounds in battle and being transported to a ship for medical treatment.
Having a loved one away from home during the holidays is always trying; however, having a son or husband off fighting in the war left the whole family on edge. The fact that this battle took place just before Thanksgiving meant that most of the families, who had unknowingly earned their Gold Star, would receive their heart-wrenching telegrams on Christmas Eve – some Christmas Day or even New Years Day.
For his service and sacrifice, Teddy's parents accepted his awards and decorations, including:
- Purple Heart
- Combat Action Ribbon
- World War II Victory Medal
- American Campaign Medal
- Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation
- Asiatic-Pacific Theater Campaign Medal
- Marine Corp Expeditionary Medal, and
- Gold Star Lapel Button.
Also left to mourn his passing were siblings, Leona L (Mrs Earl Sager), Hattie M (Mrs Janssen), Ethel J (Mrs Jacob Fransen), William Oscar "Bill", Ada M "Terry" (Mrs Jury), Edward Eugene "Eddie", Mary Elizabeth (Mrs Norman Grinnell), Lauretta J "Rita" (Mrs Eugene Baumgartner), Edwin and Robert Herbig.
Despite the heavy casualties suffered by U.S. forces, military success in the battle of Tarawa was a huge victory for the U.S. military because the Gilbert Islands provided the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet a platform from which to launch assaults on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to advance their Central Pacific Campaign against Japan.
Marine Corps Private First Class Theodore Robert Herbig is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing".
SOURCE
Geoff Roecker/MissingMarines.com
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Born October 12, 1923, in Freeport, Illinois, Theodore Robert Herbig was the oldest son and fourth of eleven children blessed to the union of Edward Robert and Lauretta C (nee Lamm) Herbig.
Private First Class Herbig was with his brothers in Easy Company, 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Marines (E-2/2) when they landed on Betio as part of Operation: GALVANIC. The mission of the 2nd Marine Division was to secure the island in order to control the Japanese airstrip in the Tarawa Atoll; thereby preventing the Japanese Imperial forces from getting closer to the United States, and enabling US forces to get closer to mainland Japan. It would become one of the bloodiest battles in the Corps history.
It was November 21, 1943 (D+1 for the “Battle of Tarawa”), when young Teddy - just 20 years old - perished. He was reportedly ceremonially buried at sea after receiving wounds in battle and being transported to a ship for medical treatment.
Having a loved one away from home during the holidays is always trying; however, having a son or husband off fighting in the war left the whole family on edge. The fact that this battle took place just before Thanksgiving meant that most of the families, who had unknowingly earned their Gold Star, would receive their heart-wrenching telegrams on Christmas Eve – some Christmas Day or even New Years Day.
For his service and sacrifice, Teddy's parents accepted his awards and decorations, including:
- Purple Heart
- Combat Action Ribbon
- World War II Victory Medal
- American Campaign Medal
- Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation
- Asiatic-Pacific Theater Campaign Medal
- Marine Corp Expeditionary Medal, and
- Gold Star Lapel Button.
Also left to mourn his passing were siblings, Leona L (Mrs Earl Sager), Hattie M (Mrs Janssen), Ethel J (Mrs Jacob Fransen), William Oscar "Bill", Ada M "Terry" (Mrs Jury), Edward Eugene "Eddie", Mary Elizabeth (Mrs Norman Grinnell), Lauretta J "Rita" (Mrs Eugene Baumgartner), Edwin and Robert Herbig.
Despite the heavy casualties suffered by U.S. forces, military success in the battle of Tarawa was a huge victory for the U.S. military because the Gilbert Islands provided the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet a platform from which to launch assaults on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to advance their Central Pacific Campaign against Japan.
Marine Corps Private First Class Theodore Robert Herbig is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing".
SOURCE
Geoff Roecker/MissingMarines.com
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Marine Corps PFC Theodore Robert Herbig, 20, killed in World War II, was buried at sea.
Born October 12, 1923, in Freeport, Illinois, Theodore Robert Herbig was the oldest son and fourth of eleven children blessed to the union of Edward Robert and Lauretta C (nee Lamm) Herbig.
Private First Class Herbig was with his brothers in Easy Company, 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Marines (E-2/2) when they landed on Betio as part of Operation: GALVANIC. The mission of the 2nd Marine Division was to secure the island in order to control the Japanese airstrip in the Tarawa Atoll; thereby preventing the Japanese Imperial forces from getting closer to the United States, and enabling US forces to get closer to mainland Japan. It would become one of the bloodiest battles in the Corps history.
It was November 21, 1943 (D+1 for the “Battle of Tarawa”), when young Teddy - just 20 years old - perished. He was reportedly ceremonially buried at sea after receiving wounds in battle and being transported to a ship for medical treatment.
Having a loved one away from home during the holidays is always trying; however, having a son or husband off fighting in the war left the whole family on edge. The fact that this battle took place just before Thanksgiving meant that most of the families, who had unknowingly earned their Gold Star, would receive their heart-wrenching telegrams on Christmas Eve – some Christmas Day or even New Years Day.
For his service and sacrifice, Teddy's parents accepted his awards and decorations, including:
- Purple Heart
- Combat Action Ribbon
- World War II Victory Medal
- American Campaign Medal
- Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation
- Asiatic-Pacific Theater Campaign Medal
- Marine Corp Expeditionary Medal, and
- Gold Star Lapel Button.
Also left to mourn his passing were siblings, Leona L (Mrs Earl Sager), Hattie M (Mrs Janssen), Ethel J (Mrs Jacob Fransen), William Oscar "Bill", Ada M "Terry" (Mrs Jury), Edward Eugene "Eddie", Mary Elizabeth (Mrs Norman Grinnell), Lauretta J "Rita" (Mrs Eugene Baumgartner), Edwin and Robert Herbig.
Despite the heavy casualties suffered by U.S. forces, military success in the battle of Tarawa was a huge victory for the U.S. military because the Gilbert Islands provided the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet a platform from which to launch assaults on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to advance their Central Pacific Campaign against Japan.
Marine Corps Private First Class Theodore Robert Herbig is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing".
SOURCE
Geoff Roecker/MissingMarines.com
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Born October 12, 1923, in Freeport, Illinois, Theodore Robert Herbig was the oldest son and fourth of eleven children blessed to the union of Edward Robert and Lauretta C (nee Lamm) Herbig.
Private First Class Herbig was with his brothers in Easy Company, 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Marines (E-2/2) when they landed on Betio as part of Operation: GALVANIC. The mission of the 2nd Marine Division was to secure the island in order to control the Japanese airstrip in the Tarawa Atoll; thereby preventing the Japanese Imperial forces from getting closer to the United States, and enabling US forces to get closer to mainland Japan. It would become one of the bloodiest battles in the Corps history.
It was November 21, 1943 (D+1 for the “Battle of Tarawa”), when young Teddy - just 20 years old - perished. He was reportedly ceremonially buried at sea after receiving wounds in battle and being transported to a ship for medical treatment.
Having a loved one away from home during the holidays is always trying; however, having a son or husband off fighting in the war left the whole family on edge. The fact that this battle took place just before Thanksgiving meant that most of the families, who had unknowingly earned their Gold Star, would receive their heart-wrenching telegrams on Christmas Eve – some Christmas Day or even New Years Day.
For his service and sacrifice, Teddy's parents accepted his awards and decorations, including:
- Purple Heart
- Combat Action Ribbon
- World War II Victory Medal
- American Campaign Medal
- Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation
- Asiatic-Pacific Theater Campaign Medal
- Marine Corp Expeditionary Medal, and
- Gold Star Lapel Button.
Also left to mourn his passing were siblings, Leona L (Mrs Earl Sager), Hattie M (Mrs Janssen), Ethel J (Mrs Jacob Fransen), William Oscar "Bill", Ada M "Terry" (Mrs Jury), Edward Eugene "Eddie", Mary Elizabeth (Mrs Norman Grinnell), Lauretta J "Rita" (Mrs Eugene Baumgartner), Edwin and Robert Herbig.
Despite the heavy casualties suffered by U.S. forces, military success in the battle of Tarawa was a huge victory for the U.S. military because the Gilbert Islands provided the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet a platform from which to launch assaults on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to advance their Central Pacific Campaign against Japan.
Marine Corps Private First Class Theodore Robert Herbig is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing".
SOURCE
Geoff Roecker/MissingMarines.com
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Inscription
HERBIG THEODORE R
PRIVATE FIRST CLASS • USMC • ILLINOIS
Family Members
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