Lt. George Diemer Jr. 11 Jun 1920 - 26 May 1944

George Diemer
36 Perry Lane
Marlborough, MA 01752
(508) 786-0996
diemergp@comcast.net

Hello Mr. Wiehe,

Thank you for your interest.  I scanned most of the photos which I have from a scrapbook kept by my grandmother.  I believe she supplied the penciled-in captions to the pictures.  Only some of them were specifically marked as photos from Roi, and I named those as such.  The others, including all the individual Marines' pictures, may be from Roi, or Wallis, or maybe even from the States.  I just don't know. But they were all intermixed in the scrapbook.  Perhaps you or some of the other Vets can see clues to the locations in the photos.

I am attaching the photo scans at low resolution to keep the file sizes down. I can send better versions if you would like.

Thanks again for your fine website, George W. Diemer III

Lt. George Diemer Jr. was from Warrensburg, Missouri, and graduated from Central Missouri State Teachers College in 1940.  His father was president of the college.  He and his twin brother (my father) organized a dance band in college for a couple of years.  He taught high school for one year and joined the Marines in the summer of 1942.  With the Marines he went to Pensacola, Miami, Norfolk, and Parris Island.  He got to the South Pacific in September 1943 and eventually got to Roi, where he flew F4U-1 Corsairs.  He drowned following a crash on takeoff on May 26, 1944.  His body was recovered a few days later.

Lt. George Diemer Jr.

This is from an article in the Warrensburg Star-Journal announcing his death:

"Lt. Diemer was born June 11, 1920, at Excelsior Springs.  A talented musician, he played the piano and cornet, and possessed a fine baritone voice. Music played a major role in his life.  He was bugler while stationed at the Olathe naval air station. His cornet went with him throughout his service in the armed forces, and when it was destroyed in a bombing raid in the Pacific, his friends located another--old and battered, but good enough to enable him to keep playing.  He organized and directed a choir of 25 men at his Pacific base, and played the organ in the base chapel."  [The article doesn't say what island that was.] .

In a letter home after the Feb 12 air raid, he described the events of that night:

"We had no sooner gotten settled than we received our first 'reminder.'  At 2:15 a.m. our second night here an alert sounded.  I grabbed my trousers, shoes and helmet, and ran with several other officers to a battered but sound Jap pillbox.  We were joking among ourselves when we heard a swish and felt the awfullest concussion of our lives.  We were all lifted several feet in the air, and my helmet flew across the pillbox.  I fervently hope I never again experience the feeling that first bomb gave me.  It was a mingling of incredulity, fear, helplessness and confusion.  I immediately started working on my state of mind, praying being my chief tool, and soon several of us could talk and even joke together a little.  The next four hours were as close to perdition as I ever care to come, but after my first attack of hopelessness I managed to keep a firm hold on my reasoning and faith.  I have since found that religion is far from dead; that first bomb awakened the soul of every man to awareness and need of divine power.  Shortly after 6 a.m. we eased out of our pillbox only to discover that it was actually a storehouse for munitions!  I had been kneeling on a 5-inch shell!" 

"When we arrived at our camp site it was awfully barren.  What had once been our tents and beds were now scattered ashes.  The first bomb had wiped out the officers' area.  I looked vainly for my belongings but I was most heartbroken by the strangely misshapen mass that had been 'Connie.' [his cornet]"

In another letter home he wrote:

"My next home was a foxhole on the beach....  I had no bedding and the nights here are actually cold, with a strong ocean breeze blowing constantly.  Bill Fuller and I dug a 2-man foxhole and lined it with sandbags.  We managed to make it quite homey.  The next day I found a blanket and a few more clothes, so that night was decidedly better, although the tide threatened to wash us out.  I have full privileges in the Beach club...  Of course, it has a laundry, a bathing pool and a swimming pool, all coincidentally located in the same spot--the ocean."

The Warrensburg Star-Journal article described how his family was notified of his death:

"Lt. George W. Diemer, Jr., U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, was killed in an airplane crash in the South Pacific area, his parents, President and Mrs. George W. Diemer of the College, were notified Tuesday by the War Department. Lt. Diemer was 23 years old.  President Diemer was about to pay tribute in the College convocation program Tuesday to alumni whose names appear on the College's gold star honor roll, when an emergency call came saying there was a telegram for him at his home.  Although fearing that he knew its nature, Mr. Diemer finished the tribute and immediately went to his office, telephoned his home and was informed that his son was dead.  Mrs. Diemer, who was in the convocation audience, did not know of her son's death until Mr. Diemer informed her."

50 years later - Finalizing Closure through emails - Amazing what technology does now days!

In response to the story and data received from George W. Diemer III, Shermie sent the story provided by George Diemer to Marine Veterans of Kwajalein battles that are members on the Veterans of Kwajalein, Roi-Namur and the Pacific Webpage Shermie maintains.  In response, Craig Carmichael followed up by emailing Shermie the following:


From:  Craig Carmichael (Craigdlou@aol.com) to Shermie Wiehe (shermiewiehe@gmail.com) , Sunday, December 25, 2005 12:11 AM

By the way I witnessed the incident in which George W. Diemer's uncle was drowned on Roi-Namur when his plane cracked up off the end of the runway and went into the water during a high tide.  I contacted him and told him what I knew from witnessing the incident.  He agreed that it was, in fact, his uncle I had seen who left the cockpit, a fatal error of judgment, and climbed out on the wing where he slipped and fell into the treacherous undertow that pulled him down and probably raked him over the razor sharp coral reef and was drowned, only a few moments away from rescue by a sea rescue boat we saw rounding the point off the north side of Namur while we were there.  We had been on our way to chow on a flat bed truck which was halted by an SP at the end of the runway, and witnessed the F4U Corsair in the shallow waters on the reef about a 100 yards from the end of the runway.  While we watched, the pilot left the safety of the cockpit and climbed out on the wing which was just barely out of reach of waves of the incoming tide.  We didn't see him slip and fall from the wing, but heard about it on our way back from the chow hall.  It was another one of those incidents that could have been averted with a little more caution, and a tragically sad ending to a man's flying career.  Flying is always attendant with risk, in training as well as in combat situations, and this was further proof of that reality.

Thanks again for steering him to me, Shermie, I think knowledge of the event helps finalize closure of his death for the family. And again, I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year.  God Bless!  Craig Carmichael

Pictures taken of and by Lt. George Diemer Jr.

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