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| Lt. Jesse Booker served with the 2nd Marine Division in Tinian. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/71832774/jesse-wootten-booker https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-C-Tinian/index.html |
Jesse Wootten Booker, III never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on January 23, 1919 in Virginia. His parents Jesse and Mary Claude were also both born in Virginia. His father worked as a merchant. Jesse had one older sister and one younger sister.
He graduated from The Citadel in 1943 and was accepted to Marine Officer Candidate School after volunteering for the Marines on July 3, 1943. He became a second lieutenant in the HQ Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. The 2nd MD participated in the Battle of Tarawa and the Battle of Saipan. By the time Lt. Booker joined his unit the 2nd MD was preparing for the invasion of Tinian.
The 2nd MD landed on Tinian on July 25, 1944. The Americans had captured half the island by July 29. The remaining Japanese were holed up in caves and ravines on the south half of the island. Lt. Booker was killed by small arms fire on July 30, 1944.
His grave is at Oakwood Cemetery in Henry County, Virginia.
Last year on this date I profiled B-24 copilot Roland Grisell. You can read about Roland here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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