Jack Stamey was born on 25 January 1925 in Charlotte, Mecklenburg county, North Carolina to William Shelton and Ida E. (Carver) Stamey; he had four siblings; dad worked as a carder in a cotton mill. Jack enlisted on 6 October 1942.

Private Jack Stamey (service number 470536) served with Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Division as they participated in Operation Galvanic, the Battle of Tarawa, Gilbert Islands on 20 November 1943. They were to secure the airstrip to prevent Japanese forces from getting closer to the US and was 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 for the Japanese on shore. For those who survived the landing, they faced a network of obstacles manned by determined defenders with fighting close range and savage. It would become one of the bloodiest battles in the Corps history. Pvt. Jack Stamey gave his life on 20 November 1943; he is listed on the Courts of the Missing, Honolulu, 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