History
GalleryRemains of WWII Marine returned home after decades-long search
Stars and Stripes
June 9, 2025
U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Matthew Wedding, a Marine escort, salutes the casket of Pvt. Charmning W. Rowe, a Marine killed during the battle of Guadalcanal, during a repatriation ceremony at Orlando International Airport, Fla., on Friday. (Ethan LeBlanc/U.S. Marine Corps)
More than 80 years after he was killed in action during one of the fiercest early battles of World War II, U.S. Marine Corps Pfc. Charmning Rowe has finally returned home to Orlando, Fla.
Rowe’s remains were repatriated to his family Thursday following a decade-long recovery and identification mission led by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
“Today we close the chapter on a story that began in 1942 and bring home a hero,” said Sgt. Matthew Wedding, the Marine charged with escorting the remains. “This mission embodies our commitment to never forget and to fulfill our promise to bring every Marine home.”
Family members of Pvt. Charmning W. Rowe, a Marine killed during the battle of Guadalcanal, standby for a repatriation ceremony at Orlando International Airport, Fla. on Friday, June 6, 2025. (Ethan LeBlanc/U.S. Marine Corps)
A U.S. Marine Corps honor guard salutes the casket of Pvt. Charmning W. Rowe, a Marine killed during the battle of Guadalcanal, after loading him into a funeral coach during a repatriation ceremony at Orlando International Airport, Fla. on Friday, June 6, 2025. (Ethan LeBlanc/U.S. Marine Corps)
A U.S. Marine Corps honor guard carries the casket of Pvt. Charmning W. Rowe, a Marine killed during the battle of Guadalcanal, to a funeral coach during a repatriation ceremony at Orlando International Airport, Fla. on Friday, June 6, 2025. (Ethan LeBlanc/U.S. Marine Corps)
U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. David Figueroa Lopez, left, an administrative specialist, and Lance Cpl. Edrick De Los Santos, right, a motor vehicle operator, are part of an honor guard carrying the casket of Pvt. Charmning W. Rowe, a Marine killed during the battle of Guadalcanal, to a funeral coach during a repatriation ceremony at Orlando International Airport, Fla. on Friday, June 6, 2025. (Ethan LeBlanc/U.S. Marine Corps)
U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Justyn Lopez, right, honor guard lead, and Sgt. Matthew Wedding, left, a Marine escort, talk with the family members of Pvt. Charmning W. Rowe, a Marine killed during the battle of Guadalcanal, during a repatriation ceremony at Orlando International Airport, Fla. on Friday, June 6, 2025. (Ethan LeBlanc/U.S. Marine Corps)
A family member of Pvt. Charmning W. Rowe, a Marine killed during the battle of Guadalcanal, says their goodbyes his casket is during a repatriation ceremony at Orlando International Airport, Fla. on Friday, June 6, 2025. (Ethan LeBlanc/U.S. Marine Corps)
Rowe, a native of Orlovista, Fla., was 21 when he died in combat on Sept. 24, 1942, during a firefight with Japanese forces near Mount Austen on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands.
He enlisted in the Marine Corps on Jan. 20, 1942 and arrived at Guadalcanal six days before his death. He was assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, under the command of Lt. Col. Lewis “Chesty” Puller.
He was one of 10 Marines buried by fellow service members in hasty battlefield graves, known as Hill X and Hill Y in enemy-patrolled territory. Despite postwar efforts by the American Graves Registration Service in the late 1940s, none of the 10 Marines buried at Hills X and Y were recovered. In 1949, Rowe was officially declared “non-recoverable.”
The case reopened in 2012 following new research that revealed postwar recovery teams may have searched the wrong locations due to mislabeled records. Using 1942 aerial imagery discovered in a Hawaiian museum archive, investigators were able to correctly relocate Hills X and Y.
Excavation efforts resumed in 2016, later revealing human remains and military artifacts on Hill X. Three years later, Rowe and his fellow Marines — Pvt. Randolph R. Edwards, Pfc. Erwin S. King, and Pfc. Morris E. Canady — were uncovered.
“This mission highlights the institution’s commitment to never leaving a Marine behind,” said 1st Sgt. Juan Duque, inspector-instructor, Motor Transport Company, Combat Logistics Battalion 451, 4th Marine Logistics Group.
Rowe and the other Marines buried on Hill X were posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. Their names are etched on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.