Gilbert Eugene Ballanger was born on 21 March 1922 in Lancaster, Missouri, to Theodore F Ballanger and Carrie Ballanger (nee Kimbrell). Theodore was born in Iowa and was a farmer. The family was Protestant and lived in Chariton Missouri. Gilbert grew up with one older sister and a younger brother and sister. Gilbert’s education level is unknown but most likely he had at least a grammar school education. Gilbert registered for the Draft in June 1941 in Greentop, Missouri.

No enlistment record for Gilbert was located. Gilbert received an induction notice and enlisted as a Private (PVT) in the US Army prior to 1943. By May 1943 Gilbert had been promoted to Private First Class (PFC) and was assigned to B Company 1st Battalion 17th Infantry 7th Infantry Division (B Co 1-17IN, 7th ID).

The 7th ID was training in the Mojave Desert in 1942 in preparation for combat as a Motorized Infantry Division to deploy to North Africa. The 7th ID was tasked in March 1943 to be the assault element to retake Attu Island, Alaska from the Japanese Army.

Attu and Kiska Islands are part of the Aleutian Chain in Alaska and had been seized by Imperial Japanese Forces on 6 June 1942 as part of large Japanese Naval Offensive. There was no opposition to either landing. A small US Navy Weather Reporting Station on Kiska consisting of 10 personnel was captured and the US Navy sailors were sent to Japan as prisoners of war. The Island of Attu was captured by a Japanese Army Infantry battalion. Attu village at the time consisted of 43 Aleuts (Unanagin) and a female schoolteacher and her husband. The Japanese later transported the Aleuts as prisoners to Japan. The schoolteacher Etta Jones was also transported to Japan as a prisoner. Etta’s husband Foster Jones was executed by the Japanese on 6 June 1942 and buried by the Attu Villagers at the Russian Orthodox Church graveyard. At the end of the war 25 of the original 43 Aleuts from Attu were repatriated to the US. The remaining 18 died of disease and malnutrition in Japan.

On 11 May 1943 the 7th ID made three landings on Attu the main effort at Massacre Bay, a supporting effort at Red Beach north of Holtz Bay and another supporting effort at Austin Cove by the 7th ID Provisional Scout Company. PFC Ballanger landed on Red Beach north of Holtz Bay with B Co 1-17 IN on 11 May 1943 under the command of MAJ Albert Hartl. 1-17 IN initial objective after landing was a hill complex designated HILL X which overlooked Holtz Bay the main Japanese Base on Attu. Due to fog and poor maps 1-17 IN did not seize HILL X on 11 May 1943 as planned. 1-17 IN seized HILL X on the afternoon of 12 My 1943 after a deliberate attack supported by 105 mm artillery, naval gunfire, and close air support from F4F- 4s, from the USS Nassau, dropping 100-pound Daisey Cutter bombs and conducting strafing runs. 1-17 IN along with the 3rd BN 32nd Infantry (3-32 IN) conducted follow operations into Holtz Bay from 13 May to 18 May 1943 clearing enemy positions. PFC Ballanger’s date of death indicates he took part in the actions to capture HILL X and the offensive operations into Hotlz Bay. The battle of Attu lasted from 11 May to 29 May 1943. The original plan called for a three to four-day operation. The battle took 18 days and was ended in a climatic banzai charge led by the Japanese Commander COL Yamazaki out of Chicagof Harbor/ Attu Village area.

Private First Class Gilbert E. Ballanger (SN 37075412) was killed in action on 15 May 1943 on Attu Island in the Alaska Territory. PFC Ballanger was 21 years old when he was killed. He was unmarried and had no children. US Army Hospital Admission Cards in indicate that PFC Ballanger was killed by rifle and machine gun fire during the assault into Holtz Bay.

PFC Ballanger was originally interned at the Holtz Bay Cemetery on Attu in May of 1943 and was later disinterred with all the other US Military and known Japanese WW II casualties. PFC Ballanger’s remains were repatriated to the Continental US in 1948 and he is buried at Jewel Cemetery, Kirksville, Missouri.

PFC Ballaner was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal and the World War II Victory Medal. PFC Ballanger qualifies for the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) and the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Ribbon with star.

Author’s Note:

Unfortunately, little was found about PFC Ballanger’s early life or his enlistment. PFC Ballanger’s unit B Company 1st Battalion 17th Infantry was awarded a President Unit Citation for its part in the attack on Hill X.

The Japanese dead, on Attu were placed in mass graves in Massacre Valley following the battle. They were also disinterred in 1948 and buried in a mass grave at the Fort Richardson Cemetery in Anchorage. In the 1950s the Japanese remains were disinterred and cremated according to Buddhist and Shinto rights, at the request of the Japanese Government. They are buried near the Allied plot on the Fort Richardson Cemetery. It is believed that Japanese remains are still on Attu and were buried in the hills and valleys by their comrades during the battle and not recovered. The Japanese Government and the US Army have made several expeditions in the 1980s and 1990s to Attu to search with little success locating any Japanese Graves. The only cemetery still on Attu is located at the Attu Village site near the foundations of Orthodox Church. Foster Jones was also disinterred from the Attu Orthodox Church graveyard by the US Army with the assistance of surviving Attu Villagers and buried at Fort Richardson, at the request of his wife Etta Jones. Massacre Bay and Valley refer to an incident in the 18th Century where Russian Explorers killed local Aleuts (Unanagin). The Village of Attu was never reestablished. The surviving Attuans who returned to the Aleutians resettled with the village of Atka further east on the Aleutian Chain. Attu remains uninhabited by people and occasionally visited by passing commercial fishing vessels or US Fish and Wildlife Service personnel today.

This story was written by Dennis V. Dupras of Alaska, former Paratrooper (Airborne Infantryman of the 1st BN 325th AIR, 82nd ABN DIV), Infantry Officer of 1st BN 17th Infantry, and graduate of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) Class of 1990. 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 here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

SOURCES:

Attu, WWII KIA (hlswilliwaw.com)

PFC Gilbert Eugene Ballanger (1922-1943) - Find A Grave Memorial

AncestryInstitution.com - U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947

AncestryInstitution.com - U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1970

U.S., Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939-1945 - AncestryInstitution.com

Gilbert Eugene Ballanger - LifeStory (ancestryinstitution.com)

AncestryInstitution.com - 1930 United States Federal Census

Alphabetical Listing Battle Deaths 7th Infantry Division by Organization 30 June 1947 James LaVerdue Collection

Attu: The Forgotten Battle by John Haile Cloe US Government Printing Office 2017

The Capture of Attu: A WW II Battle as Told by the Men Who Fought There by LT Robert Mitchell (Original Printing Infantry Journal 1944) University Nebraska Press 2000

PFC Gilbert E Ballanger Headstone Jewel Cemetery, Kirksville, Missouri

Gilbert E Ballanger, Private First Class, US Army, 17th Infantry