DOB/DOD: February 21, 1925 (Lowell, MA) – February 19, 1945; 19 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: 20 Windsor Avenue, Meriden
ENLISTMENT: February 19, 1943, in Boston, Massachusetts, on his 18th birthday
SERVICE NUMBER: 526410
UNIT: Company E, 2nd Battalion, 25th Marines, 4th Marine Division
MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 737, Fire Team Leader
FAMILY: Born to John T. (1900-1970) and Bertha Kalwat McGlew (1908-1999). 1940 census shows John living at his Uncle William (1891-1966) and Aunt Essie Keech’s house (1896-1984) in Salem, Massachusetts. Two brothers, Thomas (1941-2016) and Charles (1947-2017).
CIRCUMSTANCES: Boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina. Assigned to the 33rd Recruit Replacement Battalion at Camp Lejeune and then on the 4th Division, 25th Marines, 2nd Battalion Company E in October 1943. 5 Died from wounds to the head and chest. 3 Corporal McGlew, PFC Paul Cushman of Bridgeport, PFC Vincenzo Murrone of Bristol, and Private August Porco of Bridgeport were all in the same company. They died on different days between February 19 and March 15, 1945.
From Katie McGlew, niece: “Bertha Kalwat and John T. McGlew had a baby boy on 21st February 1925. Bertha then went home to Connecticut. The baby, John Robert (known as Bob), was brought up in Salem with his father, John McGlew, his uncle, William McGlew, his aunt, Essie McGlew Keech, and her husband, Bob’s uncle, William Keech. They all lived as a family at 4 King Street, Salem, Massachusetts. Bob lived in Salem and attended school there up until the time he joined the US Marine Corps. In 1940, when Bob was 15, his father, John McGlew, and his mother, Bertha Kalwat, married and made their home in Connecticut. Bob continued to live in Salem with his aunt and uncle, Essie and William Keech. He joined the Marines before he graduated from high school, as did 34 other boys, 10% of his graduating class. His aunt, Essie McGlew Keech, accepted his diploma at Salem High Graduation Exercises on his behalf, according to a newspaper report dated 7th June 1943.”
Salem (MA) High School Class of ‘43
Photos below are from Katie McGlew, niece of Corporal McGlew.
Letter to parents regarding receipt of the 2nd Purple Heart Medal. Contributed by Katie McGlew, a niece.
APR 27 1945
My dear Mr. and Mrs. McGlew:
I am directed by the Commandant of the Marine Corps to inform you that you are entitled to the Purple Heart and the enclosed Purple Heart Certificate posthumously awarded your son, Corporal John R. McGlew, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, in the name of the President of the United States and by direction of the Secretary of the Navy. The Purple Heart, which is being engraved, will be forwarded to you within the next two months.
You are also entitled to the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal for your son’s service in the Asiatic-Pacific Area. The medal will not be ready for issuance until six months after the war, and it is requested that you make an application to this office for an award at that time.
Sincerely yours,
A.E. O’NEIL,
Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps
From The Fitchburg (MA) Sentinel August 5, 1944
(By Sergeant Gilbert P. Bailey, of Delphi, Indiana, a Marine Corps combat correspondent. Distributed by the Associated Press)
SAIPAN, Marianas Islands – (Delayed) – Their commanding officer tells the story of three Marines who risked their lives to stay with a mortally wounded Marine officer until he died. They are Platoon Sergeant Donald R. Weber, 21, Jennings, Missouri; Corporal Merrill Grapes, 19, Waltham, Massachusetts; and Private First Class John McGlew, 19, Salem, Massachusetts. They were cleaning out the last caves on the east side of the island when a Japanese officer ran out of a dugout and slashed the Marine Lieutenant across the body with a saber. At the same time, enemy machine guns opened up on their flanks. The three men had to choose between staying with their officer, who was mortally wounded, or risking a Japanese ambush. They refused to leave, staying with the officer, and giving him what aid they could until he died. Under cover of darkness, they then made their way back to their outfit. After the Lieutenant died, Sergeant Weber took over his platoon and led the unit in successive attacks against the enemy.
From the Record-Journal (Meriden, CT) November 10, 1944
Somewhere in the Pacific – (Delayed) – Marine Corporal John R. McGlew, 19, (526410) of 20 Windsor Avenue, Meriden, Connecticut, has been promoted from Private First Class to his present rank (Corporal). Formerly employed at the A.C. Lawrence Leather Company, Peabody, Massachusetts, Corporal McGlew graduated from Salem High School in February 1943 and immediately entered the Marine Corps. He is a veteran of Roi-Namur in the Marshalls and Saipan and Tinian in the Marianas.
Letter from Corporal McGlews’s Company Commander to Mrs. McGlew; from ancestry.com
Dear Mrs. McGlew,
I wish to extend to you my deepest sympathy in the death of your son, John. Your loss and your sorrow are great, and I know my words can be of little comfort. John died of wounds received on 19 of February and was given a Christian burial by a Catholic priest in the 4th Division Cemetery, Plot 1, Row 10, Grave no 453. I believe you will receive a photo from Headquarters Marine Corps showing the exact location. Your son was a Group Leader in the First Rifle Platoon, and he always did his duty very well indeed. His memory will linger in the hearts of those he worked and fought with. We hope the ideals he died for may always exist in our great country and that our country will rightly appreciate his supreme sacrifice. May God bless his memory to you.
Sincerely yours,
Captain Donald J. Kendall, Jr
USMCR
Company Commander
E Company
2nd Bn – 25th Marines
4th Marine Division
McGlew Park, 204 North Street, Salem, Massachusetts, is named in his honor. Image from maps.google.com.
Initially buried in 4th Marine Division Cemetery on Iwo Jima, Plot 1, Row 10, Grave 453. At his father’s request, remains were repatriated and buried on February 24, 1949, 3 in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl), Honolulu, Hawaii; Section N, Grave 1445. Photo from FindAGrave.com. 2
1 – 1940 census https://www.ancestry.com/cs/1940-census
2 – https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/107074094/john-robert-mcglew
3 – USMC Casualty Report received via FOIA request
4 – https://www.interment.net
5 – USMC Muster Rolls: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1089/