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Richard W. Courtleigh was born in New York on August 3, 1924, to parents William Courtleigh, a Canadian actor, and Edna Courtleigh. He also had three older brothers: Stephan, John and Robert. He and his family were members of the Church of the Resurrection, and they resided at 390 Forest Avenue, Rye. He attended Rye High School.
While the rest of his family left Rye after William Courtleigh’s death, Richard Courtleigh stayed behind. He lived with Mr. and Mrs. George Ames on Milton Road.
Date of Birth: August 3, 1924
Died On: November 21, 1943
Street Address: 390 Forest Ave
Service Number: 364529
Branch of Service: U.S. Marine Corps – HQ Co., 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division
Courtleigh enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corp. on January 17, 1942, eventually achieving the rank of Private First Class. He was assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, 8th Marine Regiment, 1st Battalion, Headquarters Company.
On November 21, 1943, the Marines invaded the tiny island of Betio in the Battle of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands. The commanding general ordered the regiment to dock their boats on the part of the beach designated as Red Two at 0615, but the dodging tides failed to provide sufficient water for the boats to cross over the coral reef.
The Marines began the 500-yard trek, wading to shore just as the Japanese opened an unrelenting fire.
Correspondent Robert Sherrod watched the bloodbath in horror. “One boat blows up, then another. The survivors start swimming for shore, but machine-gun bullets dot the water all around them… This is worse, far worse than it was yesterday.” Within an hour, Sherrod could count at least two hundred bodies which do not move at all on the dry flats.
3,407 Marines from the 2nd Division died, including Richard Courtleigh, who was just 19-years-old.
In the immediate aftermath of the fighting on Tarawa, U.S. service members who died in the battle were buried in a number of battlefield cemeteries on the island. In 1946 and 1947, recovery operations were conducted, but Richard’s remains were not found. In 1949, a military review board declared Richard “non-recoverable”.
Courtleigh is memorialized in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific’s Honolulu Memorial. His name is inscribed within Court 2 of the “Courts of the Missing”. More on Courtleigh.
