John Robert Stuhldreier was born on 14 January 1926 in Omaha, Douglas county, Nebraska to Jospeh Lawrence and Maude Lucinda (Shedd) Stuhldreier; he had five siblings; dad was a machinist. John enlisted on 29 May 1942.

PFC John Robert Stuhldreier (service number 376000) served with “B” Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Regiment, 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 it 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 manned by determined Japanese defenders with fighting close in and savage. 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 until the airfield was secured. It was on 21 November 1943 that PFC John Stuhldreier gave his life; 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

John R Stuhldreier