Joseph Doyle Price was born on 25 April 1921 in Newcastle, Young county, Texas to Charles William and Sallie Elmira (Bullock); he was the youngest of three children; dad went from working in a grocery store to being a chauffeur. Joseph graduated from the Newcastle High School and was a member of the football team. He attended Rice University and played football for them for three years beginning 1939. He registered for the draft on 16 February 1942 standing 5’11” tall, weighing 190 pounds with hazel eyes and blonde hair; he had a scar on his left upper arm and was a student at Rice University. He married Abigail Nancy Earthman in November 1942 and they had one daughter. Joseph was commissioned in 1942 and sent to the south Pacific 25 November 1943.

2Lt. Joseph Doyle Price (service number O-18197) served with “I” Company, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Division as they fought during the Battle of Tarawa, Gilbert Islands beginning 20 November 1943. They were to secure the airstrip to prevent Japanese forces from getting closer to the US as well as the airstrip being crucial for 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 with fighting close in and savage; forty artillery pieces, nearly 500 pillboxes and a system of trenches and fortifications manned by trained, determined Japanese forces. It would become one of the bloodiest battles in the Corps history. The second day brought higher tides and the LVTs were able to get the units closer to shore and the warships were able to provide effective naval power. The enemy still launched vicious counterattacks and it took two more days before the airfield was secured. The Marines then moved through the remaining islands in the atoll and cleared out the Japanese; completing this on 28 November. 2Lt. Joseph Price gave his life on 26 November 1943 during this clean up; he is listed on the Courts 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