WW2 Cape Gloucester Fallen - Navy Cross hero Robert Oswald, 1st Marine Division

Sgt. Robert Oswald earned the Navy Cross with the 1st Marine Division at Cape Gloucester.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/128520108/robert-john-oswald
http://www.amtrac.org/4atcp/100/101_Guadalcanal/003.html 

Robert John Oswald, 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 WW2 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 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.

John was born on March 29, 1920 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents Robert and Emilie were born in Pennsylvania and Maryland, respectively. His father worked as an automobile mechanic and later as an electrician. Robert had one younger sister. By 1940 Robert had completed four years of high school. He was still living at home and was working as a shipper.

He enlisted in the US Marine Corps in February 1941. He became a sergeant in Company B, 1st Amphibian Track Battalion, 1st Marine Division. The 1st Amtrac Bn saw action at Guadalcanal beginning in August 1942 and Finschafen, New Guinea beginning in September 1943.

The 1st Marine Division was next assigned to take possession of two Japanese airfields at Cape Gloucester, New Guinea. The marines landed on December 26, 1943. Sgt. Oswald was in command of a three man LTV-1 laden with ammunition. 

Early in the battle the marines in his area were pinned down. Tanks and other armored vehicles had yet to arrive so Sgt. Oswald and his crew (two twin brothers named Leslie and Paul Hansen) volunteered to attack the Japanese pillboxes that were the source of the enemy fire. The ammunition was stacked so high, there was no place for machine-gunners Leslie and Robert to stay low. Their attack was stopped five yards short of the pillboxes when the Amtrak got stuck between two large trees. While driver Paul tried to free up the LTV-1, Leslie and Robert fended off charging Japanese until they were overwhelmed. Robert and Leslie did not survive the attack. Paul was able to free up the vehicle and rollover and crush the pillboxes that were the source of their troubles. Sgt. Oswald's efforts were recognized with a posthumous Navy Cross.

This citation reads as follows:

The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Sergeant Robert J. Oswald, Jr. (MCSN: 304048), United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty while serving with the First Amphibian Tractor Battalion, FIRST Marine Division, during the attack on the Japanese-held Cape Gloucester Airdrome, New Britain Island, on 26 December 1943. 

Serving as volunteer crew chief and gunner of an amphibious tractor assaulting an enemy pillbox impeding the advance of our troops, Sergeant Oswald, manning a machine gun mounted on the rail of the tractor, skillfully directed the hazardous advance of his crew into enemy lines until the machine became temporarily wedged between two trees in the dense jungle about five yards from the hostile pillbox. Exposed to an immediate and withering counterattack by the enemy in this perilous position, Sergeant Oswald fought his gun valiantly and directed the fire of his crew, contributing materially to the annihilation of sixty Japanese. 

Mortally wounded by sniper fire during this action, Sergeant Oswald, by his exceptional courage, had made possible the advance of our troops against the enemy. 

His daring initiative and intrepid devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

His grave is at Arlington Cemetery in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania.

Thank you Sgt. Oswald for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Robert.

Last year on this date I profiled William Cochran, 1st Armored Division. You can read about William 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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