Remi A. Balduck

Remi August Balduck (March 30, 1918 in Detroit, Michigan – November 9, 1942), enlisted in the Marine Corps at Detroit on September 4, 1940 and commenced recruit training at Parris Island, S.C., two days later. Assigned to the Marine Barracks at the Naval Operating Base, Norfolk, Va., on November 3, 1940, he received promotion to private, 1st class, on June 13, 1941. Reassigned to the Marine Barracks at New River, N.C., on September 28, 1941, Balduck was ultimately assigned to the 7th Marine Regiment, Ist Marine Division, and sailed for the South Pacific on May 8, 1942.

Promoted to corporal on June 6, 1942, Balduck landed with the 7th Marines on Guadalcanal on September 18, 1942 as that regiment reinforced Marine Corps units already there in the bitter struggle for that island. Assigned to Company "G," 2d Battalion, he took part in one of the short, sharp encounters with the Japanese near Koli Point, five miles east of Lunga. On November 9, 1942, although normally a squad leader, Cpl. Balduck spearheaded his platoon in a frontal assault on a Japanese position, and suffered a fatal wound just as he threw a hand grenade at the enemy. For his "relentless fighting spirit," maintained in utter disregard for his own safety and for the extraordinary heroism this showed, Balduck was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously.