William Monroe Casto was born on 9 May 1922 in Steinback, Fayette county West Virginia to Benjamin Averil and Castella Agnes (Taylor); he had one younger brother; dad worked the grocery business. William attended Nuttall High School enlisting on 9 December 1940.

PFC William Monroe Casto (service number 302688) served with Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Division were to secure the airstrip to prevent Japanese forces from getting closer to the US and which was crucial for as they fought during the Battle of Tarawa, Gilbert Islands beginning 20 November 1943. They the US offensive across the central Pacific. The initial landing was hampered by low tides forcing US troops to leave landing craft and wade ashore. Unfortunately for the Marines, the beach was shaped in such a way that it created a crossfire by the Japanese on shore; casualties were highest this day and many never set foot on the beach. For those who survived the landing, they faced a network of obstacles manned by determined Japanese defenders with fighting close in and savage. PFC William Casto was to provide fire support for the assault company; he gave his life on 20 November 1943 and is listed in the Curts of the Missing, Honolulu Memorial, Hawaii.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

SOURCES: Find-a-Grave; FamilySearch.org; Ancestry.com; Wikipedia