 |
| Lt. Claude Arnett, a Navy doctor, was killed on the first day of the Battle of Iwo Jima tending to the wounded on the beach. 1939 Emporia State College yearbook https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/87689764/claude-elias-arnett https://www.worldwarphotos.info/gallery/usa/pacific/iwo-jima/marine-corpsmen-treat-wounded-beach-iwo-jima-1945/ |
Claude Elias Arnett, Jr. never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on August 19, 1918 in Kentucky. His parents Claude and Bessie were born in Michigan and Kentucky, respectively. His father worked as a history professor at Emporia State College. Claude was an only child. By 1940 Claude was still living at home and had completed four years of schooling at Emporia State College where he was the senior rep on the student council in 1939. He went on to attend medical school at the University of Kansas. In 1941 he married Barbara Smith.
He was commissioned into the US Navy on March 3, 1942. He graduated from med school in May 1943 and was assigned to the San Diego Naval Base Hospital. His daughter was born the same month. Dr. Arnett was sent to the Pacific in October 1944. He became a lieutenant junior grade serving in the US Navy Medical Corps, attached to the 5th Marine Division.
On February 19, 1945 the American landed on the Japanese stronghold of Iwo Jima. Lt. Arnett disembarked onto the beach this first day of the battle in his role as a surgeon. There was plenty of work for him to do with the Japanese artillery and mortars raining death and mayhem on the men crowded on the black sand beach. While attending to the wounded, Lt. Arnett was killed by a mortar shell.
One of Lt. Arnett's acquaintances wrote the following to his widow: "On a South Pacific island is buried a young man who was destined to be a great doctor . . . I do not minimize the loss of thousands upon thousands of others, but simply had to write about this man whom we knew so well."
His grave is at Maplewood Memorial Lawn Cemetery in Emporia, Kansas. His widow remarried and died in 2012. His daughter died in 2011.
Last year on this date I profiled Donald Mikeles, 27th Infantry Division, who was killed in Saipan. You can read about Donald 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
No comments:
Post a Comment