PFC Norman W Mortensen was 22 years old when he was killed in action by Japanese forces at the seaplane base on Makin Atoll Island. Mortensen, a native of Wisconsin, was hastily buried, and his remains did not return to the States until 2001, when he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Norman Warren Mortensen was born on December 10, 1919, to Katherine Pedersen and John Mortensen in Orange Township, Juneau, Wisconsin. John owned a Dairy farm, and Katherine kept the house. The Mortensen’s would have six children: Robert, Ruth, Arnold, and Norman. Arlene and John. All of the children would go to school and learn to read and write, although Norman would only go as far as sixth grade.

Norman enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on October 29, 1941, and left home for boot camp in San Diego. War had been raging on the European continent since September of 1939 and longer in Asia. When war came to the United States, it first came from the East, with the surprise bombing of the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Imperial Navy on December 7, 1941, a Day of Infamy.

In 1942, a new Marine Corps commando force was organized, the Marine Raiders. Under Evans Carlson, PFC Norman Mortensen joined the new commando force, the 2nd Raider Battalion. The Raiders were divided into Edison's Raiders of the 1st Marine Raider Battalion and Carson's Raiders of the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion. Mortensen was assigned to Company A, 2nd Marine Raider Battalion. On August 8, 1942, Raider Companies A and B boarded the USS Argonaut (SS-1) and the USS Nautilus SS-168; they later arrived at Butaritari, Makin Atoll, Gilbert Islands, on August 16, 1942.

On August 17, the Raiders came ashore on Makin from the submarines in rubber rafts fitted with outboard motors. The Raiders destroyed installations and disrupted Japanese reinforcements bound for the island of Guadalcanal. Soon, the Marines saw the Japanese coming, and the two sides blasted at each other over from 30 yards. "It was just two skirmish lines across the island, from palm tree to palm tree, in a big military version of the OK Corral," said SGT Buck Stidham, a fellow Raider.

PFC Mortenson and the Raiders neutralized 83 of the enemy, almost wiping out the Japanese garrison and two flying boats. It was during this assault that Norman was killed in the line of duty on August 17, 1942. The Marines were forced to evacuate Makin on August 18 and leave their dead behind in the face of heavy enemy reinforcements. Marine casualties from the two days' fighting totaled 51, of whom 19 had been killed. Fourteen men were wounded, of whom two were officers. The missing totaled twelve. The Gilbert Islanders buried the 19 Marine dead, which included Mortensen, in an unmarked group grave.

The news of Mortenson's death made its way back to Wisconsin after Labor Day weekend, 1942. According to the Daily Tribune, "The place of Mortensen's death was not divulged in the telegram, but it is presumed it was in the South Pacific area. PFC Mortensen was listed as dead, according to the Associated Press.

At the end of 1999, The Central Identification Laboratory (CILHI), based at Hickam Field, Hawaii, recovered the remains of 19 Marine Raiders killed in August 1942 during the raid on Makin Atoll. This recovery ended a search that began in 1948 by the Graves Registration Team, looking for Mortensen and the other 18 Marines left behind on Makin Atoll.

Through November and December of 1999, a mass grave was discovered using radar and cadaver dogs. Human remains, equipment, and ID tags were found under a road built by the Seabees after the US took the island in 1943. A Gilbert Islander, Bureimoa Tokarei, who was 16 and helped bury the Marines, led the CILHI team within feet of the burial site.

The repatriated remains were returned to the States. Norman Mortensen's sister, Arlene, escorted her long-deceased brother home. The families of the 19 Makin Marines decided on a joint internment at Arlington. On August 17, 2001, PFC Mortensen and 18 fellow Marine Raiders were buried in a group grave with full military honors in section 60 grave, 8036, at Arlington National Cemetery. It was the 59th Anniversary of the Makin Raid.

After Noman's remains were identified, a rosette was added to his name at the walls of the Missing at the Punchbowl National Cemetery in Hawaii, indicating he was accounted for.

PFC. Norman Warren Mortensen was 23 years old when he was killed in action and is a recepient of the Purple Heart.

*NOTE: The Japanese officer responsible for the beheading of the Marines was Admiral Kōsō Abe. He was an later tried and executed for war crimes.

SBTS: Camp Douglas, Wisconsin.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15549327/norman-warren-mortensen

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/121763244/norman-warren-mortensen

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PFC Norman W Mortensen’s Decorations:

Purple Heart

American Campaign Medal

American Defense Medal

Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal

Combat Action Ribbon

Good Conduct Medal

Navy Presidential Unit Citation

WWII Victory Medal

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Marines interred within section 60 grave, 8036:

FMI Vernon L Castle

CPL JH Earles

PFC William A Gallagher

CPL Daniel S Gaston

PFC Ashley W Hicks

CAPT Gerald A Holtom

CPL Kenneth K Kunkel

CPL Harris J Johnson

PVT Carlye O Larson

CPL Edward Maciejewski

PVT Robert B Maulding

PFC Kenneth M Montgomery

PFC Norman W Mortensen

PVT Franklin M Nodlond

CPL Robert B Pearson

PVT Charles L Shelby

SGT Clyde Thomason

PFC John E Vandenberg

CPL Mason O. Yarbrough

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As part of the Stories Behind the Stars Project, this story documents the life of an American hero of World War II. SBTS is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen on Together We Served and Fold3. https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org/ Can you help write these stories? These stories will be accessible via a smartphone app at any war memorial or cemetery. If you notice any information in this profile that is erroneous or you have additional information to contribute, please get in touch with me at thomaslapadula@gmail.com. Stories Behind the Stars contributing writer: Thomas La Padula.