Marine Corps Combat Correspondent and author. Born in Winfield, Iowa he was raised in Monmouth, Illinois where his father was a successful businessman and one term mayor. He received a bachelors degree from the University of Arizona, was a Rhodes scholar, and attended Yale Law School. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor he joined the United States Marine Corps and assigned to the 1st Marine Division as public relations officer and official historian of that storied divisions participation in Operation Watchtower the tenuous bloody struggle for Guadalcanal and its vital airstrip. Other World War II assignments was as an observer with the Royal Marines assaulting Juno beach during Operation Overlord (Normandy) and on board the USS Nevada (BB 36) in Operation Dragoon the invasion of southern France. He used his experiences on Guadalcanal as the subject of two books "The Island" (1944) and "Guadalcanal Remembered" (1982). The latter, utilizing his personal diary entries , was the better received of the two books. After the war Mr. Merillatt wrote for Time magazine and worked for the Ford Foundation in New York City and New Delhi, India. Other books unrelated to the war were "Land and the Constitution in India" (1972) and "Sculpture West and East:Two Traditions" (1973).
Marine Corps Combat Correspondent and author. Born in Winfield, Iowa he was raised in Monmouth, Illinois where his father was a successful businessman and one term mayor. He received a bachelors degree from the University of Arizona, was a Rhodes scholar, and attended Yale Law School. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor he joined the United States Marine Corps and assigned to the 1st Marine Division as public relations officer and official historian of that storied divisions participation in Operation Watchtower the tenuous bloody struggle for Guadalcanal and its vital airstrip. Other World War II assignments was as an observer with the Royal Marines assaulting Juno beach during Operation Overlord (Normandy) and on board the USS Nevada (BB 36) in Operation Dragoon the invasion of southern France. He used his experiences on Guadalcanal as the subject of two books "The Island" (1944) and "Guadalcanal Remembered" (1982). The latter, utilizing his personal diary entries , was the better received of the two books. After the war Mr. Merillatt wrote for Time magazine and worked for the Ford Foundation in New York City and New Delhi, India. Other books unrelated to the war were "Land and the Constitution in India" (1972) and "Sculpture West and East:Two Traditions" (1973).
Inscription
MAJ USMC
Gravesite Details
MAJ US MARINE CORPS
