Herbert Raudenbusch Amey, Jr. (February 22, 1913 – November 20, 1943) was a

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

and

Silver Star Medal The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an en ...

recipient who served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Early life and military career

Amey was born in Ambler, Pennsylvania. He attended Ambler High School, where he was

student council A student council (also known as a student union, associated student body or student parliament) is an administrative organization of students in different educational institutes ranging from elementary schools to universities and research or ...

president during his

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

year, as well as president of his

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

and junior classes. Thereafter, Amey attended the

Pennsylvania Military College Widener University is a private university in Chester, Pennsylvania. The university has three other campuses: two in Pennsylvania (Harrisburg and Exton) and one in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded as The Bullock School for Boys in 1821, the school ...

, where he was the captain of the

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

team. Upon graduating, he became an officer in the

and was initially assigned to the Marine Barracks at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Amey's first overseas assignment was with the

1st Battalion, 6th Marines The 1st Battalion, 6th Marines (1/6) is an infantry battalion in the United States Marine Corps based in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. It consists of approximately 1,100 marines and sailors. They fall under the command of the 6th Marine Regiment ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

in 1937, followed by duty at the Marine Detachment at the U.S. Embassy in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. In 1941 and 1942, he served as a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

with the 6th Marines in the

1st Provisional Marine Brigade The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was a Marine (military), Marine infantry brigade of the United States Marine Corps (USMC) that existed periodically from 1912 to 1950. It was an ad hoc unit formed for specific operations and not considered a "p ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. As a

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

, Amey was battalion executive officer of the

during its action on

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...

in early 1943.

Tarawa

In 1943, first at the rank of

, then

, Amey served as

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of the

2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines (2/2) is a light infantry battalion in the United States Marine Corps based out of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Also known as "The Warlords", it consists of approximately 1,300 Marines and sailors an ...

. As such, he trained the

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

during its stay in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

as part of the Second Marine Division and led the battalion ashore on

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

of the

Battle of Tarawa The Battle of Tarawa was fought on 20–23 November 1943 between the United States and Japan at the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, and was part of Operation Galvanic, the U.S. invasion of the Gilberts. Nearly 6,400 Japanese, Koreans, an ...

November 20 Events Pre-1600 * 284 – Diocletian is chosen as Roman emperor. * 762 – During the An Shi Rebellion, the Tang dynasty, with the help of Huihe tribe, recaptures Luoyang from the rebels. *1194 – Palermo is conquered by Henry ...

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – ...

. Amey was killed by

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

fire while wading ashore, just before he would have reached the beach. The shattered remnants of his battalion were temporarily commanded by Lt. Col. Irvine Jordan, before being combined with units from the

1st Battalion, 2nd Marines 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines (1/2) (pronounced "one-two") is an infantry battalion in the United States Marine Corps based out of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, consisting of approximately 900 Marines and sailors. The battalion, ca ...

. For his actions that day, Amey was posthumously awarded the

. Amey was one of two lieutenant colonels killed at Tarawa, along with David Kerr Claude, an observer from the

1st Battalion, 23rd Marines 1st Battalion, 23rd Marines (1/23) is one of 32 infantry battalions in the United States Marine Corps, and one of only eight battalions found in the reserve. It is located throughout Texas and Louisiana consisting of approximately 1000 Marines a ...

. They were the highest ranking Marine Corps officers to die during the battle. Amey was temporarily interred on Betio Island at Tarawa. His remains were later transferred to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl), in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

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Silver Star citation

Citation:

The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Lieutenant Colonel Herbert R. Amey, Jr. (MCSN: 0-5099), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as Commanding Officer, Second Battalion, Second Marines, SECOND Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces on Tarawa, Gilbert Islands, 20 November 1943. After completing organization of assault waves incident to landing on the well-fortified Japanese beachhead, Lieutenant Colonel Amey gallantly led his battalion forward in the face of devastating machine gun and mortar fire. When the amphibious tractor in which he was riding reached an unsurpassable coral reef, he was forced to abandon the vehicle in order to save it and led his men on through the treacherous waters. Mortally wounded by hostile machine gun fire before reaching the shore, he refused assistance and urged his command to continue without him. His brilliant leadership, great personal valor and unrelenting devotion to duty in the face of grave peril served as an inspiration to the men under his command and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amey, Herbert Recipients of the Silver Star 1913 births 1943 deaths United States Marine Corps colonels People from Ambler, Pennsylvania United States Marine Corps personnel killed in World War II Military personnel from Pennsylvania