Michael Salvatore Cusimano

"Black Mike"

Marine Corps Reserve | Service Number 450259

Born

March 11, 1921
in Hoboken, NJ

Parents

Salvatore Cusimano
Anna (Constante) Cusimano

School

Details unknown

Pre-War Employment

Bright Star Battery Company

Entered Service

August 27, 1942
at New York, NY

Joined First Battalion

October 25, 1942
from Training Center New River

Left First Battalion

February 22, 1945
Killed in action at Iwo Jima

Left Service

February 22, 1945
Killed in action

Home Address and Next of Kin

323 Monroe Street, Hoboken, NJ – address of parents, Salvatore & Anna Cusimano

Service & Campaigns

Before joining battalion

Boot camp with Sixth Separate Recruit Battalion, TC New River, North Carolina. Outposted directly to First Separate Battalion (Reinforced) on 25 October 1942.

Roi-Namur

Outfit: D/1/24th Marines (Third MG platoon)
Rank: PFC
MOS: 605 (Heavy machine gunner)

Campaign Narrative

Saipan

Outfit: C/1/24th Marines
Rank: PFC
MOS: 745 (Rifleman) – serving with machine guns
Important Events:
July 8, 1944 – sick (diagnosis unknown); admitted to a field hospital.

July 16, 1944 – returned to duty

Campaign Narrative

Tinian

Outfit: C/1/24th Marines
Rank: PFC
MOS: 745 (Rifleman) – serving with machine guns
Important Events:
July 29, 1944 – sick (diagnosis unknown); admitted to a field hospital.

August 8, 1944 – returned to duty

Campaign Narrative

Iwo Jima

Outfit: C/1/24th Marines
Rank: PFC
MOS: 604 (Machine gunner)
Important Events:
February 22, 1945 – killed in action (direct hit from mortar) while taking cover in a shell hole during a bombardment.

Campaign Narrative

Individual Decorations

Medal
Purple Heart

Campaign
Iwo Jima (Feb. 22, 1945)

Citation

Service Stories

Please share a story if you knew this Marine.

We were getting hit by artillery and mortar fire and everything like that. We jumped in a big old shell hole while we were advancing. Six of us landed in that particular hole... that was the only so-called protection we had at that time. And I remember Mike Cusimano, he said “I’m getting the hell out of here, it’s too hot for me.”

I said, "Mike, stay here, sure as shit you get out of here, you’ll get killed."

At the time I said that, bang, a round landed right on top of the parapet. And everyone in that shell hole was a casualty except me.