Auntie Charo's Soapbox

The author is Richard K. Kolb and can be contacted by EMail at
_rkolb@vfw.org_ (mailto:rkolb@vfw.org) .

The article is titled Who Was The Last American Killed In Action In WWII

Post-Treaty -- December 8, 1945, more than three months after peace was officially concluded---U.S Marines fought the final full-fledged firefight with the Japanese at Asan Point, Guam. Snipers ambushed a four-man patrol of A Co., 4th MP Bn., killing three Marines: Lt. Ray W. Atchinson, Cpl. Howard W. Price and Pvt. Herbert E. Ward. Pvt. Robert K. Ross, the sole survivor, was
wounded. But the dubious distinction of being the last American killed in action by the Japanese actually goes to Pfc. William C. Patrick Bates of K Co., 3rd Bn., 3rd Regt., 3rd Marine Div., on Dec 14, 1945. Part of Patrol No. 7, a 16-man squad, Bates was on a five-day sweep of Tactical Area 505 Peter located behind the Asan-Piti beaches in Guam's west-central sector. The search-and-destroy mission for Japanese stragglers was headed for the village of Piti. The squad was moving along a ridge covered with 6-foot-high sword grass when shots rang out at 12:30 p.m. "I was the last man
to see Bates before the shooting," Pfc. Charles E. Kocourek stated. "As I entered about four feet into the grass, the shooting started. The shots came from our right. I hit the deck and counted six or seven shots." Assistant patrol leader Cpl. William W. Culver said, "When the firing started everyone hit the deck," but it ceased quickly. Bates, flank man 10 yards to the right of the column, was the only Marine hit. Fellow patrol members never fired a shot or even sighted the enemy. Perhaps only one or two Japanese staged the ambush. It took 15 or 20 minutes to locate Bates' wounded body---he died approximately 45 minutes later at about 1:30 p.m.
The Alabaman had originally arrived on Guam on Sept. 21, 1944, about a month after the island battle. He survived the Battle of Iwo Jima only to become the last American KIA in World War II. He is buried in Honolulu's Punchbowl, Section 17, Grave Number 178. His hometown public library honored him in 1995."