WW2 Saipan Fallen - Silver Star hero Israel Aronovitz, 2nd Marine Division

Silver Star hero PFC Israel Aronovitz served with the 2nd Marine Division during the Battle of Saipan.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/65292182/israel-aronovitz
https://www.worldwarphotos.info/gallery/usa/pacific/saipan/marines-hit-by-japanese-sniper-on-saipans-red-beach-1944/

Israel Aronovitz never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

If you have enjoyed reading the stories of the WWII fallen, Can you help write some stories? It's a big project. The more help, the better.  Announcing "The Stories Behind the Stars", see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org. This crowd-sourced national project has the goal of compiling stories of all 400,000+ of the US World War II fallen in one free-to-access central database. We are going to need a lot of volunteers. Anyone visiting a war memorial or gravesite will be able to scan the name of the fallen with a smartphone and his story will appear on the phone.

Israel was born on August 26, 1920 in Detroit, Michigan. His parents, William Aronovitz and Zelda Sarah Morachnick were both born in Romania. His father worked as an auto manufacturing assembler and later as a peddler. Israel had 3 brothers, Abraham, Morris, and Harry. He had four sisters, Rose, Esther, Marion, and Dorothy. According to the 1940 federal census, Israel had an education to the first year of high school.

He enlisted in the US Marine Corps on June 15, 1942. According to Marine muster rolls, he was stationed in San Diego, California. In October 1943 he was assigned to the First Battalion, Tenth Marine Regiment, Second Marine Division. On October 17, 1943, he embarked on the USS Middleton from Wellington, New Zealand. The Second Marine Division sailed to Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands, where they fought from November 20-23. This action was later criticized as an unnecessary loss of life for an island of no strategic significance, as the Second Division incurred 3166 casualties in 76 hours. PFC Aronovitz earned a Silver Star for his actions on November 21, with this citation:

“The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class Israel Aronovitz (MCSN: 404869), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against enemy Japanese forces while serving with the SECOND Marine Division on Tarawa Atoll,Gilbert Islands, on 21 November 1943. 

With utter disregard for his personal safety, he carried his pack howitzer forward to the limit of the beachhead, there assembled it under enemy fire. He destroyed by direct fire a pillbox sheltering an enemy anti-boat gun which was causing heavy casualties among reinforcements landing on the beach. The entire section remained in this exposed position under close sniper fire, until the mission had been accomplished. His heroic conduct was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.”

In June 1944, the 10th Marines were assigned to take the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands. The Japanese fleet relied on this base, which had an airfield, resupply ports and a large civilian population. On June 13, the US began bombarding the shore from fifteen battleships. Unfortunately, this bombardment, which was meant to take out shoreline defenses, missed many Japanese emplacements. On June 15, 1944, the landings on the western shore faced heavy fire, and the Second Marines took heavy losses. Aronovitz died in action that first day. The island wasn’t declared secured until July 9, with terrible civilian and military losses. This strategic position would help significantly in future US operations to bomb Japan.

His grave is at Hebrew Memorial Park in Clinton, Macomb County, Michigan.

Thank you, Israel Aronovitz, for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Israel.

_____

This profile was written by Marilyn N. Clark. "I have a long-standing interest in World War 2. My grandfather and numerous great-uncles served in that conflict. I have a BA in history from the University of Utah and have a lot of experience with volunteer genealogical research. It’s an honor to find and share information about these heroes that made such great sacrifices. Many thanks to Don for organizing this effort to share their stories.”

This is one of the final 10 stories (8) to be written as part of this project which ends on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. At that time more than 1,370 men and women will have been profiled. The project will live on in an expanded program to write the stories of all 400,000+ US World War II fallen. Visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org to learn more. We welcome your continued support and interest and encourage you to help write some of these stories.

Last year on this date I profiled Navy Cross hero Barney Sterling, 1st Marine Division. You can read about Barney 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.

 

Follow on Twitter @ww2fallen100

Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100

 

WW2 Fallen 100 is supported by

The Greatest GENERATIONS Foundation

“Where Every Day is Memorial Day”

http://www.tggf.org

Sources:

Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/65292182/israel-aronovitz

Military headstone application https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2375&h=976877&tid=&pid=&queryId=8f8cd2b5e7e79020f3551b100e844bc2&usePUB=true&_phsrc=uTN886&_phstart=successSource

Silver Star citation https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/35137

USMC muster rolls for Aronovitz on ancestry.com, six in total

1940 Census https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2442&h=83152654&tid=&pid=&queryId=8f8cd2b5e7e79020f3551b100e844bc2&usePUB=true&_phsrc=uTN889&_phstart=successSource

1930 Census https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?dbid=6224&h=11948477&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=60525

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_Marine_Regiment

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tarawa

https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-saipan

WW2 Guam Fallen - Thomas Dougherty, 3rd Marine Division

PFC Thomas Dougherty served with the 3rd Marine Division in the battle to retake Guam.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/94433931/thomas-patrick-dougherty
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Guam_(1944)

Private First Class Thomas Patrick Dougherty, Jr. never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

If you have enjoyed reading the stories of the WWII fallen, Can you help write some stories? It's a big project. The more help, the better.  Announcing "The Stories Behind the Stars", see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org. This crowd-sourced national project has the goal of compiling stories of all 400,000+ of the US World War II fallen in one free-to-access central database. We are going to need a lot of volunteers. Anyone visiting a war memorial or gravesite will be able to scan the name of the fallen with a smartphone and his story will appear on the phone.

PFC Dougherty, a native of Baltimore, was killed in action at the age of 23 on July 22, 1944 during the invasion to retake Guam from the Japanese. He was serving with Company G., 2nd Battalion, 21st Marines, 3rd Marine Division.

He was born August 25, 1920 in Baltimore, the only child of Thomas Patrick Dougherty, Sr., and Edna M. Cole Dougherty. His father, who served in World War I and was slightly wounded, was employed at the Maryland State Penitentiary. His parents separated when he was young, and at the time of the 1930 census, when he was nine, he was living with his mother and maternal grandmother. His mother was a saleslady in a clothing store in 1930. In the 1940 census she is a machine operator at a clothing manufacturing plant, and Thomas was a salesman of electrical supplies. 

He attended Forest Park High School in Baltimore. His draft registration in February 1942 shows him employed as a dispatcher with the Pennsylvania Railroad and married to Audrey Elizabeth Dougherty. They were married between 1940 and 1942. He enlisted on September 22, 1942 and went overseas in February 1943.  

Japanese forces had overrun the American garrison on Guam December 8-10, 1941, the first three days after Pearl Harbor. The 1944 battle to recapture Guam was one of the bloodiest engagements of the Allied “island hopping” campaign. The invasion was preceded by three days of naval and air bombardment from 274 ships and 13 aircraft carriers. PFC Dougherty’s unit, the 3rd Marine Division, killed an estimated 5,000 Japanese and sustained 677 Marines killed, 3,626 wounded, and nine missing. He was killed on the second day of the three-week battle.

He was initially buried on Guam, and his remains were repatriated in 1948. He is interred at the Parkwood Cemetery and Mausoleum in Baltimore. His mother passed away in 1973.

Thank you, PFC Thomas Patrick Dougherty for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Thomas.

_____________

This profile was written by John F. Schlatter. “I’m from Knoxville, Tennessee and a retired corporate public relations manager, living in Las Vegas. I served as an active duty and reserve Army officer 1974-82. I’ve written two books about veterans. One tells the stories of WWII veterans through postcards they wrote to the folks back home, and the other honors about 50 of the 168 Americans who died in Vietnam on the Fourth of July. I’ve also been a volunteer in the effort to find photographs of all 58,000 Americans who died in Vietnam. Researching and writing the stories of those who died to preserve freedom has gone from a hobby to a passion for me. If we don’t honor and remember, who will?”

This is one of the final 50 stories (9) to be written as part of this project which ends on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. At that time more than 1,370 men and women will have been profiled. The project will live on in an expanded program to write the stories of all 400,000+ US World War II fallen. Visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org to learn more. We welcome your continued support and interest and encourage you to help write some of these stories.

Last year on this date I profiled B-17 radio operator Archie Snoddy. You can read about Archie 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.

 

Follow on Twitter @ww2fallen100

Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100

 

WW2 Fallen 100 is supported by

The Greatest GENERATIONS Foundation

“Where Every Day is Memorial Day”

http://www.tggf.org

References:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/94433931/thomas-patrick-dougherty

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Guam_(1944)#Battle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_Marine_Division#World_War_II

WW2 D-Day Fallen - Bronze Star hero Roy Krenke, 1st Infantry Division

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/502362533416923581/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/149841062/roy-r-krenke

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Infantry_Division_(United_States)

Roy Richard Krenke never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

If you have enjoyed reading the stories of the WWII fallen, Can you help write some stories? It's a big project. The more help, the better.  Announcing "The Stories Behind the Stars", see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org. This crowd-sourced national project has the goal of compiling stories of all 400,000+ of the US World War II fallen in one free-to-access central database. We are going to need a lot of volunteers. Anyone visiting a war memorial or gravesite will be able to scan the name of the fallen with a smartphone and his story will appear on the phone.

Roy was born August 24, 1920 in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. His parents Richard Edward Krenke and Ida C. (Horn) Krenke were born in Nebraska and Wisconsin, respectively. His father worked as a cabinet maker. Roy had a younger sister, Carol, eight years his junior. Roy graduated from Washington High School in Two Rivers, and attended the University of Wisconsin for three years, majoring in economics.

He was inducted into the US Army on 24 Oct 1942 at Milwaukee, Wisconsin and completed basic training at Camp Wolters, Texas. He served as a private in the 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division (“The Big Red One”). The 1st ID departed the States in April 1942 to join a large contingent of US troops slated for participation in Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa. Private Krenke likely joined the 16th IR in North Africa as a replacement some time in 1943. 

After the North African campaign, the 1st ID next took part in Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, with an amphibious landing on 10 July 1943. After Sicily was captured in August 1943, the division returned to England, where it endured seven months of grueling training in preparation for the Allied invasion of Europe. 

On 6 June 1944 the 16th IR was part of the first wave that went ashore at Omaha Beach in Normandy. As their landing craft approached the beach and dropped their ramps, the soldiers were targeted by German machine gunners atop the bluff that commanded the beach. Many soldiers were killed or wounded while they attempted to get out of the boats, others were hit as they struggled through the surf or tried to run across the sand weighted down with water-logged equipment. Those that made it to the base of the bluff found the area mined and criss-crossed with concertina wire. Colonel George A. Taylor, the commander of the 16th Infantry Regiment, urged his troops to get off the beach, yelling "The only men who remain on this beach are the dead and those who are about to die! Let's get moving!". Sadly, Private Krenke was one of those left behind on the beach as he was killed in action at some point coming ashore.

Private Krenke was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star for "heroic achievement in connection with military operations against the enemy in the vicinity of Gela, Sicily, July 10, 1943".

Roy Richard Krenke was initially buried in France and in 1947 was reinterred in Forest View Cemetery in his hometown of Two Rivers, Wisconsin.

Thank you Private Krenke for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Roy.

_____

This profile was written by Bob Fuerst. "I’m a NASA engineer, B-17 Flying Fortress enthusiast, and amateur genealogist so this kind of research is an ideal outlet for me. But more than anything, it’s a way to express my sincere appreciation for The Greatest Generation and the sacrifices that they made, especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice. They should never be forgotten and I’m grateful to Don for allowing me to play a small part in honoring them." 

This is one of the final 50 stories (10) to be written as part of this project which ends on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. At that time more than 1,370 men and women will have been profiled. The project will live on in an expanded program to write the stories of all 400,000+ US World War II fallen. Visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org to learn more. We welcome your continued support and interest and encourage you to help write some of these stories.

Last year on this date I profiled Silver Star hero Charles Murphy of the 7th Infantry Division. You can read about Charles 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.

 

Follow on Twitter @ww2fallen100

Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100

 

WW2 Fallen 100 is supported by

The Greatest GENERATIONS Foundation

“Where Every Day is Memorial Day”

http://www.tggf.org

WW2 Saipan Fallen - William Buller, 4th Marine Division

Sgt. William Buller served with the 24th Marine Regiment in Saipan.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/88080097/william-warren-buller
https://1stbattalion24thmarines.com/the-battles/saipan/

William Warren Buller never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

If you have enjoyed reading the stories of the WWII fallen, Can you help write some stories? It's a big project. The more help, the better.  Announcing "The Stories Behind the Stars", see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org. This crowd-sourced national project has the goal of compiling stories of all 400,000+ of the US World War II fallen in one free-to-access central database. We are going to need a lot of volunteers. Anyone visiting a war memorial or gravesite will be able to scan the name of the fallen with a smartphone and his story will appear on the phone.

William was born on 23 August 1920 in Patterson, New Jersey to John and Mae (Cummings) Buller. William had an older brother, John Jr., and an older sister, Ruth. William's father, born in Connecticut, was a truck driver for a local dairy while his mother Mae, born in Pennsylvania, was a weaver at a silk mill.  

William attended primary at School No. 15 and went on to graduate from Eastside High School where he played football for the Eastside Ghosts. His obituary mentioned he also played football for the Army Clowns before enlistment into the Marines.

In 1940 William was a receiving clerk for the Leslie Company in Lyndhurst, New Jersey which supplied the military and merchant ships with steam contact equipment.

William enlisted in the Marines on 26 August 1942 and was attached to “D” Co. 1^st Battalion (reinforcements) FMFTC at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina in 1944. His primary unit became
 600, C Co, 1st BN, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division.

“William Buller was one of the original members of Dog Company. He was a squad leader with the Third Machine Gun Platoon. Buller was a popular leader; he earned a promotion to sergeant on January 11, 1944, and gunner Glenn Buzzard referred to Buller as his "big brother":

...not a whole lot older, but then everyone was older than me. I would say he was 24 years old at the time, and I was 17. I met him just out of boot camp. He'd sort of look after me, I'd say. I know I put on some pictures, "This is my brother while I was in the Marine Corps," but that is how I felt about him.

- Corporal Glenn Buzzard, quoted in Gail Chatfield's "By Dammit, We're Marines!"

Sergeant Buller led his squad through the battle of Namur, and was transferred to Charlie Company in March 1944.

With Charlie Company:

Sergeant Buller became a squad leader with Charlie Company's machine gun platoon. He made the landing on Saipan, and fought through the first tough weeks of the campaign.

Buller was equally as popular with officers as he was with other enlisted men; he was particular friends with his platoon leader, First Lieutenant Alex Santilli. On July 8, 1944, as First Battalion prepared to advance on Marpi Point, Lieutenant Santilli was distracted by a disturbance in front of his platoon. A number of civilians - women, children, and men holding babies - emerged from a treeline, calling to the Marines. The platoon was in a partially harvested cane field, and as Santilli and Buller went to investigate the civilians, shots rang out from beneath one of the piles of sugar cane. Both Santilli and Buller were killed; Buzzard saw them go down "within seconds of each other."

Sgt. Buller was awarded the following:

Purple Heart
Combat Action Ribbon
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
American Campaign Medal
Navy Presidential Unit Citation
WWII Victory Medal

Sgt. Buller was buried in Row 9, Grave 16 of the Second Marine Division Cemetery. After the war, he was reinterred in Cedar Lawn Cemetery along with his parents in Paterson, New Jersey.

Thank you, William Warren Buller for your sacrifice. Let’s ‘Earn It” for William.

____________

This profile was written by Linda Simpson. I have been an avid genealogist, researching my ancestry in Canada, France, Belgium, and Ireland for over 40 years. I am also a historian for The Seminole Nation, Indian Territory, and The Past Whispers. When I saw an article on Don’s project I knew I wanted to be a part of Stories Behind the Stars. What an amazing way to honor our fallen, by ‘Earning It’ for them.

This is one of the final 50 stories (11) to be written as part of this project which ends on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. At that time more than 1,370 men and women will have been profiled. The project will live on in an expanded program to write the stories of all 400,000+ US World War II fallen. Visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org to learn more. We welcome your continued support and interest and encourage you to help write some of these stories.

Last year on this date I profiled B-17 navigator Thomas Meeks. You can read about Thomas 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.

 

Follow on Twitter @ww2fallen100

Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100

 

WW2 Fallen 100 is supported by

The Greatest GENERATIONS Foundation

“Where Every Day is Memorial Day”

http://www.tggf.org

References:

Eastside High School - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastside_High_School_(Paterson,_New_Jersey)

Leslie Company - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Controls

Together We Served - https://marines.togetherweserved.com/usmc/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=496914

2^nd Marine Division Cemetery Saipan, Marianas Islands – 1945 http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/fjd/id/540

Marianas Campaign During WWII National Park Service
https://www.nps.gov/amme/learn/historyculture/upload/COHlisting.pdf

Breaching the Marianas: The Battle for Saipan  2^nd Marine Division
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-C-Saipan/index.html

Find A Grave – https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/88080097/william-warren-buller

Ancestry – 1940 Census - https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2442/images/m-t0627-02433-00769?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.99431325.2056080605.1597850184-1521280555.1596418198&pId=130998385

Newspapers.com – The Morning Call, Paterson, NJ and The News, Paterson, NJ 

WW2 South Atlantic Fallen - PBM-3c Mariner radioman William Magie, lost in U-boat attack

Aviation Radioman 2nd Class William Magie served with PV-74 in Brazil.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/86252582/william-frederick-magie
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Martin_PBM-3_Mariner_of_VP-74_in_flight,_in_1942_(fsa.8b08013).jpg

William Frederick Magie, Jr. never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

If you have enjoyed reading the stories of the WWII fallen, Can you help write some stories? It's a big project. The more help, the better.  Announcing "The Stories Behind the Stars", see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org. This crowd-sourced national project has the goal of compiling stories of all 400,000+ of the US World War II fallen in one free-to-access central database. We are going to need a lot of volunteers. Anyone visiting a war memorial or gravesite will be able to scan the name of the fallen with a smartphone and his story will appear on the phone.

He was born on August 22, 1920 in Opolis Kansas. His parents William and Zella (Pickard) were born in Kansas and Iowa respectively. His father worked as a farmer and later as an auto service laborer. William had three older sisters and two younger sisters.

He enlisted in the military on December 10, 1942 from Missouri. He ended up serving in the US Naval Reserves were he reached the rank of aviation radioman second class. He was assigned to VP-74 which was equipped with PBM-3 Mariners. This was a seaplane patrol squadron that operated in the Atlantic with the mission of locating German submarines.

In March 1943 three PBM-3c's were sent to operated out of Bahia, Brazil. The plane ARM Magie was assigned to shared creditor in the sinking of U-128 on May 17, 1943.

On July 4, 1943 ARM Magie was part of the crew on BUNO 6571that was lost during a night attack on the German submarine U-199. The sub was equipped with quad-mount 20-mm AA guns which were a threat to the low flying, slow moving Mariners with a top speed of 200 MPH. The PBM-3 went down 47 miles south of Rio de Janeiro. There were no survivors.

His cenotaph grave is at Highland Park Cemetery in Pittsburg, Kansas.

Thank you ARM Magie for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for William.

This profile was selected at the request of Bill DeArmond.

This is one of the final 50 stories (12) to be written as part of this project which ends on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. At that time more than 1,370 men and women will have been profiled. The project will live on in an expanded program to write the stories of all 400,000+ US World War II fallen. Visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org to learn more. We welcome your continued support and interest and encourage you to help write some of these stories.

Last year on this date I profiled Normandy Point du Hoc fallen Andrew McCorkle, 2nd Ranger Battalion and his brother. You can read about Andrew and James 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.

Follow on Twitter @ww2fallen100
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100

WW2 Fallen 100 is supported by

The Greatest GENERATIONS Foundation

“Where Every Day is Memorial Day”

http://www.tggf.org

References: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VP-40

https://www.vpnavy.com/vp74_mishap.html

1920, 1930 US Census