WW2 Fallen - Glenn Midgarden, Americal Division + world's greatest drummer

Pvt. Glenn Midgarden was killed during a Japanese shore bombardment of Guadalcanal.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=74814169&ref=acom

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

He was born on September 30, 1917 in North Dakota. His parents were both born in Norway. His father worked as a farmer. Glenn had one younger sister. By 1940 he had completed 8 years of schooling. He was living at home working on the family farm and served in the North Dakota National Guard.

Glenn's National Guard unit was activated into the regular army on February 10, 1941. He became a private in Company C, 1st Battalion, 164th Infantry Regiment, Americal Division.

The 164th IR was sent to the South Pacific in January 1942. It was deployed to Guadalcanal on October 13, 1942 to reinforce the Marines who had been on island since August. Pvt. Midgarden died on October 15, 1942, most likely as a consequence of nighttime shore bombardment by Japanese heavy cruisers.

His grave is at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

Thank you Glenn for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Glenn.

Buddy Rich

Also born on September 30, 1917 was Buddy Rich, who was recognized as "the world's greatest drummer" during his musical career. His entertainment career started early. He was the second highest paid child entertainer in the country during the 1920s sharing his virtuoso rhythm talents. As a youngster the bands he played for included Artie Shaw's and Tommy Dorsey's.

http://www.corpsstories.com/Famous%20Marines%20-%20Buddy%20Rich.htm

In 1942 Rich left the Tommy Dorsey Band to join the Marines. He served as a judo instructor but never saw combat. After two years, he was released due to medical reasons.

After the war, Rich continued his successful, influential musical career for another 40 years. He died in 1987.

The musical talents of the 408,000 fallen are lost, but we can be thankful for the talents they contributed to America's victory in World War 2.

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.

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