Paul Glen Southerland
Marine Corps Regular | Service Number 281694
January 19, 1924
in Montrose, CO
Arthur Aught Southerland
Jetta Mae (Roberts) Southerland
Details unknown
Details unknown
January 23, 1940
at San Diego, CA
September 1, 1943
from 23rd Marines
February 2, 1944
Killed in action at Namur
February 2, 1944
Killed in action
Route 3, Redlands, Grand Junction, CO – address of father, Arthur Southerland
627 Avenue F, Lawton, OK – address of mother, Jetta Southerland
Arthur and Jetta were divorced; Paul spent part of his childhood with each parent. Both are listed as emergency contacts on his Marine Corps casualty documentation.
Service & Campaigns
Enlisted at age sixteen, giving false date of birth (1 January 1922).
Boot camp at MCRD San Diego from January – March 1940. Outposted to Company B, First Battalion, 6th Marines on 5 March 1940. Admitted to base hospital, San Diego, on 18 March; dropped from rolls of 6th Marines on 13 May 1940. Continued sick in hospital through 1 August 1940.
Taken up on rolls of Casual Company, Base Service Battalion, MCB San Diego for mess duty through 5 September 1940, at which time transferred to Marine Barracks, Naval Air Station San Diego. Returned to hospital in spring of 1941; dropped from rolls of NAS San Diego 18 July 1941.
On 28 October 1941, joined Guard Company #1, Marine Barracks, Navy Yard Puget Sound (Bremerton, WA). Transferred to Naval Air Station Kodiak, Alaska, early 1942; to Marine Barracks, Naval Operating Base, Dutch Harbor late 1942. Returned to Bremerton on 22 December 1942.
Transferred to First Guard Company, MCB San Diego, 1 February 1943. Held duty through summer of 1943, at which time sent to Infantry Training School at Camp Elliott. Assigned to 23rd Marines in August 1943; transferred to Able Company, 24th Marines on 1 September 1943.
Outfit: A/1/24th Marines
Rank: PFC
MOS: 745 (Rifleman) – assigned duty as machine gunner according to George A. Smith
Important Events:
February 2, 1944 – killed in action (gunshot, head); exact circumstances unknown.
Individual Decorations
Medal
Purple Heart
Campaign
Namur (Feb. 2, 1944)
Citation
Service Stories
“Southerland came down from Alaska just before we left the States. [He] got killed, and we really never knew how. We suspected he was souvenir hunting & a sniper got him.”
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