PVT Franklin Merrill Nodlond enlisted in the Marine Corps the day after Christmas 1941 when he was 18. Eight months later, he was involved in his first and last combat when he was killed during the Makin Atoll raid. Nodlond's remains would remain missing for 59 years, later found and finally buried at Arlington in 2001.

Franklin Merrill Nodlond was born on September 16, 1923, in Marshall, Iowa, to Carolyn B Quiggle and Frank Carrute Nodland. Franklin was one of four children, preceded by DeWitt, and Carolyn, followed by Georgianna. Frank, the father, worked for a newspaper, and Carolyn kept the house they owned together.

All of the children attended school and could read and write. It is unknown if Franklin finished high school. The 19409 US Census indicates he was a sophomore in high school. He does not appear in any of the high school yearbooks of schools in the surrounding area. It is also known that the Nodlond father, Frank, a Great War veteran, walked out on his wife and children. His wife Carolyn later stated in 1949, "She had not seen or heard from him in over 13 years. I presume he is dead"

War had been raging on the European continent since September of 1939 and longer in Asia. When war came to the United States, it first came from the East, with the surprise bombing of the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Imperial Navy on December 7, 1941, a Day of Infamy. Franklin enlisted in the Marine Corps on December 26, 1941, and went to boot camp in San Diego, CA.

In 1942, a new Marine Corps commando force was organized, the Marine Raiders. Under Evans Carlson, PVT Franklin M Nodlond joined the new commando force, the 2nd Raider Battalion. The Raiders were divided into Edison's Raiders of the 1st Marine Raider Battalion and Carson's Raiders of the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion. Nodlond was assigned to Company A, 2nd Marine Raider Battalion. On August 8, 1942, Raider Companies A and B boarded the USS Argonaut (SS-1) and the USS Nautilus SS-168; they later arrived at Butaritari, Makin Atoll, Gilbert Islands, on August 16, 1942.

On August 17, the Raiders came ashore on Makin from the submarines in rubber rafts fitted with outboard motors. The Raiders destroyed installations and disrupted Japanese reinforcements bound for the island of Guadalcanal. Soon, the Marines saw the Japanese coming, and the two sides blasted at each other over from 30 yards. "It was just two skirmish lines across the island, from palm tree to palm tree, in a big military version of the OK Corral," said SGT Buck Stidham, a fellow Raider.

The Raiders were forced to evacuate Makin on August 18 and leave their dead behind in the face of heavy enemy reinforcements. Marine casualties from the two days' fighting totaled 51, with 19 killed, 14 wounded, 12 missing, and seven presumed drowned. The missing totaled twelve, of which nine were known to have survived and were taken to Kwajalein, where they were beheaded.*

The Gilbert Islanders buried the 19 Marine dead, which included Yarbrough, in an unmarked group grave. Mason’s name would be added to the Wall of the Missing at the Punchbowl National Cemetery in Hawaii.

At the end of 1999, The Central Identification Laboratory (CILHI), based at Hickam Field, Hawaii, recovered the remains of 19 Marine Raiders killed in August 1942 during the raid on Makin Atoll. This recovery ended a search that began in 1948 by the Graves Registration Team, looking for Nodlond and the other 18 Marines left behind on Makin Atoll.

Through November and December of 1999, a mass grave was discovered using radar and cadaver dogs. Human remains, equipment, and ID tags were found under a road built by the Seabees after the US took the island in 1943. A Gilbert Islander, Bureimoa Tokarei, who was 16 and helped bury the Marines, led the CILHI team within feet of the burial site.

The repatriated remains were returned to the States. The families of the 19 Makin Marines decided on a joint internment at Arlington. On August 17, 2001, PVT Nodlond and 18 fellow Marine Raiders were buried in a group grave with full military honors in section 60 grave, 8036, at Arlington National Cemetery. It was the 59th Anniversary of the Makin Raid.

After Franklin's remains were identified, a rosette was added to his name on the walls of the Missing at the Punchbowl National Cemetery in Hawaii, indicating he was accounted for.

On June 10, 1949, Carolyn Nodlond petitioned the State of Iowa for the loss of her son. She was awarded $500 for her son's sacrifice. PVT Franklin M Nodlond was 19 years old when he was killed in action on Makin; he is a recipient of the Purple Heart.

*NOTE: The Japanese officer responsible for the beheading of the Marines was Admiral Kōsō Abe. He was an later tried and executed for war crimes.

SBTS: Marshall, Iowa.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/117492430/franklin-merrill-nodland

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15549985/franklin-merrill-nodland

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PFC Norman W Mortensen’s Decorations:

Purple Heart

American Campaign Medal

American Defense Medal

Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal

Combat Action Ribbon

Good Conduct Medal

Navy Presidential Unit Citation

WWII Victory Medal

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Marines interred within section 60 grave, 8036:

FMI Vernon L Castle

CPL JH Earles

PFC William A Gallagher

CPL Daniel S Gaston

PFC Ashley W Hicks

CAPT Gerald A Holtom

CPL Kenneth K Kunkel

CPL Harris J Johnson

PVT Carlye O Larson

CPL Edward Maciejewski

PVT Robert B Maulding

PFC Kenneth M Montgomery

PFC Norman W Mortensen

PVT Franklin M Nodlond

CPL Robert B Pearson

PVT Charles L Shelby

SGT Clyde Thomason

PFC John E Vandenberg

CPL Mason O. Yarbrough

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As part of the Stories Behind the Stars Project, this story documents the life of an American hero of World War II. SBTS is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen on Together We Served and Fold3. https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org/ Can you help write these stories? These stories will be