Captain James M. Murray, Mustang Marine

Murray's enlistment photograph, 1943

Captain James M. Murray, O-51919 was born in Detroit Michigan, February 4th, 1924. Murray's personal life has been a mystery thus far, but his military service took him to some of the most god-forsaken parts of the world.

Murray enlisted in the Marine Corps at age 19 on March 11th, 1943. he went to boot camp at The Marine Recruit Depot in San Diego California then to the School of Infantry. Upon completion he was assigned to the 24th Replacement Battalion and sailed for the Pacific and arrived in New Zealand where he was assigned to man a Browning Automatic Rifle with L Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment of the 2nd Marine Division. L/3/6 had just completed its first combat operations of WWII at Guadalcanal and Murray was among the replacement troops during the refit for its next operation. 

The next battle for 6th Marines would be the worst combat of the Pacific War to date. The operation was code named "Galvanic", the Island was Betio in the Tarawa Atoll. 3/6 was a floating reserve and as casualties mounted in the first day of battle, Murray's unit was given orders to move into the battle. L/3/6 would join the battle late, landing on Green Beach. The campaign was brief but 3/6 would make the final assault across the remainder of the island in the final day of battle. The 6th Marines remained on the Atoll for the next week "mopping up" and removing the last of the Japanese defenders. In all, only 17 Japanese soldiers were captured alive during the battle.

After Tarawa, the 2nd Marine Division was sent to a barren part of the Big Island of Hawaii and began the long process of recuperating from battle.  For Murray's Battalion, the next battle would be much most costly. Operation Forager as it was officially known, would bring the Marines to the Mariana Island chain. The prize of the Mariana's was the recapture of Guam, but for the 2nd Marine Division, their battle would be the heavily fortified island of Saipan. 3/6 was assigned to land at Red Beach 1 on the early morning of June 15th, 1944. Early opposition was heavy and within three hours of landing the 6the Marine regiment had suffered 35 percent casualties, including the loss of two battalion commanders. In the middle of the night on first day of the battle the Japanese pushed its first mass counterattack against the lines of 3/6. Murray's battalion fought through the night and with the aid of 2nd Marine Tank Battalion broke the Japanese attack. When the sun rose over 700 enemy lay dead in front of Murray's battalion.

Tarawa - photo credit to the Marine Corps Museum

Murray and his unit fought on for the next 24 days and as the battle was coming to an end, it was his unit that was given the task of mounting the final assault. 3/6 began the final assault on Maniagassa Island in Tanapag Harbor at the cost of one casualty - and with that final fight, the battle for Saipan was over. While my research has not been conclusive, I believe that it was in this battle that Murray was wounded.

The battle for Tinian was equally important in the capture for the Mariana's. Tinian, the island that would eventually be the location for the departure of the two atomic bomb flights, was only three miles from Saipan. The 2nd Marine Division would only have days to rest and refit from the grueling campaign on Saipan before the launch of the next battle. Murray would spend the next 14 days fighting and by the end of the battle, his battalion commander, LTC Easley, would be killed.

For the final campaign of World War two, Murray would take a back seat ride. The 6th Marines was assigned to be part of a diversionary false assault during the battle of Okinawa. The 2nd Marine Division feigned an assault on the South Eastern part of the Island while the Main assault took place on April 1, 1945.

Following World War Two, Murray remained in the Marine Corps and served first in the reserves then went back to Active Duty, returning to the 2nd Division as the Korean War broke out. Murray went to Officer's Candidate School in 1951 and in 1953 went to Japan, serving with 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines in Japan. Murray would serve briefly with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines in 1954 in Korea during the late stages of the Korean War. Murray would continue to serve in staff and school positions at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego and at the Marines' Cold Weather school at Bridgeport, California until he left the Marines with the rank of Captain in November, 1955.