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Hillyer Walter Welborn

"Jiggs"
Marine Corps Reserve | Service Number 983701
Born

January 4, 1919
in Laurel, MS

Parents

Ira Leonidas Welborn
Myrtle Branch (Houston) Welborn

School

Details unknown

Pre-War Employment

Farmer

Entered Service

June 9, 1944
at Jackson, MS

Joined First Battalion

February 27, 1945
from 24th Replacement Draft

Left First Battalion

March 9, 1945
to where OR cause

Left Service

March 9, 1945
Killed in action

Home Address and Next of Kin

Rural Route 3, Laurel, MS – home of wife, Mrs. Dezzie May (McCloud) Welborn, and children Ira Chester and Walter Larry Welborn.

Service & Campaigns
Before joining battalion

Boot camp at MCRD San Diego; outposted to Third Training Battalion, 2nd Infantry Training Regiment at Camp Pendleton, California. Assigned to 24th Replacement Draft for deployment overseas attached to the Fourth Marine Division. 

Joined Baker Company, First Battalion, 24th Marines as a battle replacement on Iwo Jima.

Iwo Jima

Outfit: B/1/24th Marines
Rank: Private
MOS: 745 (Rifleman)
Important Events:
February 27, 1945 – joined from 24th Replacement Draft
March 9, 1945 – killed in action (shrapnel wounds, back); exact circumstances unknown
March 17, 1945 – buried in Plot 1, Row 36, Grave 1784, Fourth Marine Division Cemetery

Campaign Narrative

Individual Decorations

Medal
Purple Heart

Campaign
Iwo Jima (March 9, 1945)

Citation

Hillyer is buried in Shady Grove Cemetery, Shady Grove, Mississippi
Gallery
Selective Service registration, 1940.

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