DOB/DOD: May 5, 1926 (Rochester, MA) – March 9, 1945; 18 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: 212 Ashley Street, Hartford. The home is no longer there. The address is now a parking lot for St. Francis Hospital.
ENLISTMENT: June 1, 1943, in Columbia, South Carolina, at 17 years old
SERVICE NUMBER: 496698
UNIT: Company E, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines, 4th Marine Division
MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 0522, Guard; and 0746, Automatic Rifleman
FAMILY: Born to Albert (1897-1949) and Mary Glavin Pennington (1897-1974). The third oldest of 4 children. Three brothers, Albert Jr. (1919-1996), Robert (1921-1979), and Gerald (1933-2004). 1
CIRCUMSTANCES: Boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, in the Summer of 1943. Assigned to the Marine Barracks, Boston Navy Yard from the Fall of 1943 through the Spring of 1944 as a Guard. Transferred to the 17th Replacement Draft and trained at Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, California, in the Fall of 1944. His last assignment was with the 4th Marine Division, 23rd Marines, 2nd Battalion. 3 Died from gunshot wounds to the chest and arm. 2
From The Hartford Times, unknown date, contributed by his nephew, Bill Pennington.
PFC Donald L. Pennington To Receive Final Honors
Final funeral rites for Private First Class Donald L. Pennington, 18, formerly of the advertising department of the Hartford Times, who was killed in action on Iwo Jima, March 9, 1945, will be held Thursday. Services will be at 8:30 a.m. from the Ahern Funeral Home, 180 Farmington Avenue, with a solemn requiem Mass at St. Joseph’s Cathedral at 9. Burial will be in Soldier’s Field, Wilson. Friends may call at the funeral home after 4 p.m. Wednesday. PFC Pennington, son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert W. Pennington, formerly of 212 Ashley Street, Harford, and now of Tariffville, was born in Rochester, Massachusetts May 5, 1928, and attended St. Joseph’s School. He was enlisted in the Marine Corps on June 2, 1943, and completed his boot training at Parris Island, South Carolina. He was a member of a Marine Corps guard unit at the Boston Navy Yard until his request for active duty was granted. He was rated an expert rifleman with the automatic rifle and other small arms types. He leaves his parents, three brothers, Albert W. Jr. of Hartford, Robert E. of Collinsville, and Gerald F. Pennington of Tariffville.
Initially buried in the 4th Marine Division Cemetery on Iwo Jima, Plot 1, Row 29, Grave 1431. 2 At his mother’s request, his remains were repatriated and buried on January 20, 1949, in Northwood Cemetery, 81 Matianuck Avenue, Windsor, Connecticut; Section AA, Lot 62. Photos by Jeff DeWitt.
Private Evleth and PFC Pennington are buried next to each other. The headstones for all four who died in the Battle of Iwo Jima and are buried in Northwood Cemetery are near each other.
1 – 1940 census https://www.ancestry.com/cs/1940-census
2 – USMC Casualty Report received via FOIA request
3 – USMC Muster Rolls: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1089/