Born: May 24, 1923
Died: February 23, 1945
Campaigns Served: Namur, Saipan (wounded), Iwo Jima (killed)
Highest Rank Attained: Corporal
Decorations: Purple Heart with Gold Star
John Corcoran was born in Boston in 1923. He enlisted in the Marine Corps at the age of nineteen; after completing boot camp with Platoon 842, he was assigned to Company A of the First Separate Battalion (Reinforced). Corcoran was promoted to Private First Class and trained with the Browning Automatic Rifle at Camp Pendleton. In August, 1943, his unit became Able Company, 24th Marines.
Corcoran fought on Namur and made the landing on Saipan, where he suffered a sprained right ankle shortly after landing. The injury meant that Corcoran couldn't keep up with the company; he was evacuated to the USS Samaritan and sent to the Aiea Heights Naval Hospital. By the time he was discharged from the hospital on July 28, his company was heavily engaged on Tinian. Corcoran rejoined them at Camp Maui in the fall of 1944; he was promoted to corporal shortly after his return.
Corporal Corcoran's company landed on Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. For days, they fought against incredible Japanese resistance; after supporting an attack by Charlie Company on February 23, some members of Able managed to catch a brief break behind the lines. Corcoran and his friend, Alva Perry, found a likely looking place to rest.
Corcoran dropped his gear, took off his helmet, and stripped off his jacket, taking advantage of the warm sun. A weird whumping sound could be heard in the middle distance, getting closer and closer. The resting Marines turned to look.
An American shell, evidently a dud, was bounding along the ground, turning end-over-end like a football. It was moving so fast that the startled men barely had time to register what it was, let alone react. The shell hit Corcoran in the stomach, glanced off, and disappeared over the next hill.
A small red mark had appeared on Corcoran's stomach. He stared at it, confused, as his friends clustered around and called frantically for stretcher bearers.
John Corcoran didn't utter a word as he was carried back to the battalion aid station just below them. Anxiously, the Marines watched as a surgeon looked Corcoran over. The surgeon checked Corcoran's vitals, and brusquely told the Marines to take the dead man outside. His friends couldn't believe it - but Corcoran had died on the brief stretcher voyage.
Corcoran's casualty card listed his official cause of death as fragment wounds to his back. Possibly the shell had flung him backwards into the boulder he was leaning against, possibly he was hit in the confusion, or possibly he was simply given that listing to cover the fact that he had been killed by accidental friendly fire.
John Corcoran was buried in Grave 175, Plot 1, Row 4 of the 4th Marine Division Cemetery three days after his death. His mother requested that he be reburied in an American military cemetery. He rests in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Section O, Site 482.
Photograph by George Smith