DOB/DOD: June 13, 1926 (New London, CT) – March 11, 1945; 18 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: West Main Street, Niantic
ENLISTMENT: July 3, 1944, in Hartford, Connecticut
SERVICE NUMBER: 987766
UNIT: 34th Replacement Draft, 3rd Marine Division
MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 521, Basic Marine
FAMILY: Born to Charles M. (1899-1962) and Altha B. Sheflott Tinker (1899-1966). Third oldest of four children. Siblings are Harriet (1921-1990), Charles Jr. (1923-2011), and Norma E. Tinker Mitchell (1934-). 1 Cousin, Staff Sergeant John R. Tinker, was also killed in action in WWII.
CIRCUMSTANCES: Boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, in the Summer of 1944. Infantry training in the Fall of 1944 at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina in the Fall of 1944. Assigned to the 3rd Marine Division, 34th Replacement Draft in early 1945. 5 The nature and manner of how he was killed in action is unknown. In the Marine Corps for 8 months total. Private Tinker and Private Odell Doyon of Griswold, Connecticut, were in the same unit, and they died a day apart.
Chapman Technical High School, New London, Class of ’44 2
Chapman Technical High School Football Team
From the Connecticut Military Portrait Collection, Connecticut State Library, Identifier: PG570; used with permission
Honored at the East Lyme Veterans Memorial, 224 Main Street, Niantic, Connecticut. Photo by Jeff DeWitt.
Honored on the New London War Memorial, 154 Broad Street, New London, Connecticut. Photo by Jeff DeWitt.
Initially interred in the 3rd Marine Division Cemetery on Iwo Jima, Row 25, Grave 605. At his father’s request, he was repatriated and buried on February 15, 1949, 4 in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl), 2177 Puowaina Dr, Honolulu, Hawaii; Section N, Site 323; photo from Ancestry.com. 3
1 – 1940 census https://www.ancestry.com/cs/1940-census
2 – https://classmates.com
3 – https://ancestry.com
4 – https://www.interment.net
5 – USMC Casualty Report received via FOIA request
6 – USMC Muster Rolls: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1089/