William Frederick Meuse, Jr Corporal 420239 Regimental Weapons Company, 21st Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, United States Marine Corps Purple Heart June 6, 1921 Wakefield, Mass, US Unknown Wakefield, Mass, US Light 5 feet, 8¼ inches Brown Blue Single July 22, 1944 23 National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific Section N Site 1448

Source: findagrave

William Frederick Meuse, Jr Corporal 420239 Regimental Weapons Company, 21st Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, United States Marine Corps Purple Heart June 6, 1921 Wakefield, Mass, US Unknown Wakefield, Mass, US Light 5 feet, 8¼ inches Brown Blue Single July 22, 1944 23 National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific Section N Site 1448 William Frederick Meuse Jr. was the son of William Frederick Meuse Sr. (1887-1966) and Catherine Angela (O'Shaughnessy) Meuse (1887-1950). His father was born in Morris Island, Yarmouth Co., NS and his mother was born in Cork, Ireland. The family was living in Wakefield, Massachusetts in 1921. William’s siblings were Catherine Gertrude (Meuse) Griffin Welsh (1917-1972), Ethel Priscilla (Meuse) Caswell Gordon (1919-1994), Earl Francis Meuse (1923–-2006), Roy Leo Meuse (1927-2013), and Marjorie "Margie" Pauline (Meuse) Jones (b. 1931). William’s bother Earl served in the US Army during World War II from April 2, 1942, until November 15, 1945, with the 811th Tank Destroyer Battalion, in Europe. In 1940, William was employed with the Purian Furniture Company, Washington St., Melrose, Mass. Corporal Meuse served with the United States Marine Corps in the South Pacific. On July 21, 1944, the 3rd Marine Division landed three infantry regiments abreast on Asan Beach in Guam. The 3rd Marines landed on the left, the 9th Marines on the right, and the 21st Marines landed right in the center. William was serving with the 21st. Serving with the Regimental Weapons Company, William’s Company had its platoons distributed and attached to individual frontline infantry battalions of the Regiment to support them directly on the battlefield. By 1944, a Regimental Weapons Company utilized an arsenal that required specialized crews to transport and operate, which included 75mm self-propelled guns or M3 half-tracks mounted with artillery pieces, used as mobile bunker-busters, 37mm anti-tank guns, or towed artillery pieces that fired explosive shells or canister shot (which turned the gun into a massive shotgun against infantry charges), and 50-caliber heavy machine guns, used for sustained suppressive fire and anti-aircraft defense. He was wounded in action at Guam, in the Marianas and died of his wounds on the USS Aquarius, a US Coast Guard-manned assault transport, on July 22, 1944. The Battle of Guam was fought between July 21 and August 10, 1944.