Veterans column: Marine Pvt. Paul Emmett Luther, of Licking Twp, listed as MIA in Guam

Burl and Margaret Luther were married in 1894. On Sept. 30, 1926, Margaret gave birth to her 16th child; they named him Emmett Paul. The family lived in Granville Township before moving in the 1930s to Licking Township, where Luther attended school in Jacksontown. In November 1940, when he was in sixth grade, his father died. He is pictured in a 1941 seventh-grade school photo at Jacksontown School. He had already started working at this time. On Jan. 22, 1942, the 15-year-old quit his job at the Given Coal Co. and joined the United States Marine Corps. He then traveled to San Diego for his basic training. It was the last time he saw home.

In March 1942, he sent a letter home, telling his family he was in the base hospital, recovering from an appendectomy. Once he recovered, he finished his basic training and was assigned to the Pacific Theater of Operations. According to Marine Corps Muster Records, over the next year, he served in Company B, First Battalion, 22nd Marines of the Third Marine Brigade and fought at battles for Guadalcanal and Bougainville.

Veterans column: Granville's William Hammond survives Pearl Harbor; presumed KIA on Pecos

In November 1944, the family received word that Luther was wounded in the fighting July 21 on the island of Guam. In January 1945, an article in the paper reported that Mrs. Luther received a letter from her son Clarence stating that he was wounded in December and was on his way to the French coast and then back to the States. The article also states, “Mrs. Luther has another son, Emmett Paul Luther who she has not heard from since he was wounded on Guam last July 21. The war department has informed Mrs. Luther that her Marine son is doing as well as can be expected at a hospital in the South Pacific, although she has never heard from him direct.”

On March 6, she received a telegram from the commandant of the Marine headquarters that read, “I regret to inform you that information just reported to this headquarters shows that your son, Pvt. Paul Emmett Luther is now reported missing in action while performing duty in the service of his country, instead of wounded as previously reported.”

Veterans column: Frederick Wright's life after World War II

In August 1945, his mother received word that Luther was presumed dead by the Navy with the date of death being July 22, 1945, a year after the initial date of his wounding in Guam.

Luther's name is inscribed on the Tablets of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. In 1961, Margaret Luther placed a military headstone at Wilson Cemetery that reads, “In Memory of Emmett Paul Luther.” Even though he was presumed dead, he is officially listed with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency as missing in action on Guam in July 1944. Luther, 17, was the youngest sacrifice from Licking County in World War II.

Doug Stout is the Licking County Library local history coordinator. You may contact him at 740.349.5571 or dstout@lickingcountylibrary.org. The Library’s book "Never Forgotten: The Stories of Licking County Veterans" is available for purchase at the library or online at bookbaby.com & Amazon.com.

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Licking County veterans column: Pvt. Paul Emmett Luther MIA in Guam