Please reply direct to...the sender of the following e-mail. if you have information for him...
ZooksIAm@aol.com
--Thank you...
From : <ZooksIAm@aol.com>
Sent : Wednesday, December 17, 2003 3:22 AM
To : GunnyG@HotMail.Com
Subject : I need info on a Carlson's Raider Marine KIA during WWII.
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Hello,
My name is Gary Davey. I'm an Air Force vet (1971-1975; intel. analyst--Russian) hoping to find out how and when a Marine my mother fell in love with was killed during WWII.
My mother is nearly 80 now, and has been in nursing care for about 6 years. Her mind has been pretty fuzzy during that period, but she has recently had a period of great lucidity. During a recent visit, she started talking about her first true love "Johnny" who was killed during WWII before she met my father (WWII vet, Army, OSS radio operator). She had mentioned Johnny numerous times during my childhood and adult years.
During our recent discussion, she admitted that she'd never really loved any man since Johnny, including my father. That was no great surprise to me--neither of my parents were particularly balanced people and their two marriages to each other were full of rage and violence. She, like many women of her generation, married whoever would have them for the sake of security. Nevertheless, she's now a sweet little old lady in a wheelchair with memories of a lost love whom she looks forward to rejoining after she crosses over. I decided to ask her more questions and then, later, I decided to see if I could find out more about Johnny's life and death. It seems the least I can do for such an unhappy soul whose most sacred memories tend to fade in and out.
In any case, during our conversation, she told me that his name had been Johnny Smith and that he'd been a Marine with Carlson's Raiders. She had met him and some of his buddies while riding a train across country from California (where she'd lived with her brother's family for awhile) back to her home in Peoria, IL. Johnny apparently fell for her hard enough to get off the train in Peoria rather than continue on to his family home in "Hamtranic, Michigan" (my mother was emphatic regarding the spelling, even spelling it out for me--"H-A-M-T-R-A-N-I-C"--I was obviously being a dense child). He stayed with my mother's family for two or three weeks before my grandmother insisted that he go home to his own family before his leave ended. After Johnny was shipped out to the Pacific again, my mother never heard from him. When I asked her how she knew that he'd been killed, she told me that Johnny's mother had sent her a short note which informed her that he'd been killed and nothing more. She never learned how, when, or where he died.
Of course, I know that you are unlikely to have specific knowledge of this particular Marine. However, I am hoping that you might guide me to records that verify that this particular name was listed as a member of Carlson's Raiders. If so, then I might learn if he was killed while still serving with this unit or if he'd been reassigned to some other unit. I fear that with such a common name (John Smith) and no serial number, I'll never get anywhere with NARA records. As it is, I've yet to verify that there is or ever was a "Hamtranic, Michigan."
Well, I appreciate your time. If you're able to suggest any person, organization, archive, or other resource that might help me track down what happened to Johnny, I'd greatly appreciate it. I can't say why, but I have a deep feeling that providing some accounting of his death will give my mother some measure of peace. At the very least, I'd like her to know that someone who mattered to her so profoundly matters to me. After all, her life history is a part of mine.
Take care,
Gary Davey.
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