WW2 Saipan Fallen - Gordon Rognrud, 2nd Marine Division

Cpl. Gordon Rognrud served in the 2nd Marine Division in Saipan.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/84567588/gordon-everett-rognrud
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fL6FVI6vTU 

Gordon Everett Rognrud 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 WW2 fallen, I invite you to help write some!  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 2 fallen in one free-to-access central database.  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.

Gordon was born on February 16, 1920 in North Dakota. His parents Isaac and Mary were born in Wisconsin and North Dakota, respectively. His paternal grandparents were from Norway and his maternal grandparents were from Germany. His father worked as a farmer. Gordon had one older brother and two younger sisters.

He enlisted in the US Marines in October 1941. He wanted to be a flyer, but that didn't pan out. He became a corporal in the HQ Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. The 6th Marine Regiment was initially sent to Iceland to defend the island. It joined the rest of the 2nd MD on Guadalcanal in January 1943. It helped eliminate the remaining Japanese forces on the island. The 2nd MD fought in the Battle of Tarawa in November and December 1943 and then fought in the Battle of Saipan beginning on June 15, 1944.

By early July, the fighting on Saipan had cost the Americans more than 13,000 casualties. The victorious outcome was all but assured and the survivors had to feel relieved to have made it through alive amid such high losses. On the night of July 3, Cpl. Rognrud was in a jeep carrying supplies to the front line using a new road. His jeep hit a mine which ignited the gas tank -- resulting in the burning of many of the men in the jeep and the trailer it was pulling. Cpl. Rognrud's wounds included second degree burns. He was evacuated to a hospital ship but died of his wounds on July 7, 1944. The next day was the last day of major fighting on Saipan.

His grave is at Missoula Cemetery in Missoula, Montana.

Thank you Cpl. Rognrud for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Gordon.

Last year on this date I profiled Normandy fallen Vernon Fowler, 453rd Anti Aircraft Battalion. You can read about Vernon 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.

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WW2 Fallen 100 is supported by

The Greatest GENERATIONS Foundation

“Where Every Day is Memorial Day”

http://www.tggf.org