WWII Roll of Honour,
HistoryNT,
Second World War, 1939-1945,
Date
0000-00-00,
Place of birth
Missouri (USA),
Date of birth
1906,
Place of enlistment
California (USA),
Date of enlistment
1931-03-28,
Service
US 148th Field Artillery,
Unit
MV Tulagi (1909)(2670),
Rank
Warrant Officer,
Service number
39006236,
Date of death
1942-02-19,
Place of death
MV Tulagi (1909)(2670),
Place of burial
National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii, Section B, Site 659,
Cultural heritage
American,
Honours and awards
United States Purple Heart Medal,
Biographical notes
Wilbert L. Mead was born in Missouri, United States of America in 1906. At the age of twenty-three, on 16 June 1930, he married Merle R. Etter (age twenty-one) and became brother-in-law to Harry G. and Wilma F. Murphy. In his civilian life Mead was a sales clerk; by the time he joined the army in 1931 he was divorced.
Mead was buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii, Section B, Site 659; he was posthumously awarded the United States Purple Heart Medal.,
History
Mead enlisted as a Private for the Branch Immaterial—Warrant Officers, United States of America in San Francisco, California on 28 March 1931 (service number 39006236).
Some of the American troops of the 148th Field Artillery were required to spend the night of 18 February on the Tulagi; when the Japanese attacked on 19 February 1942, these troops fought to stay alive alongside their Australian comrades. Disregarding his own safety, Mead remained on deck to assist with firing a .50-caliber machine gun at the enemy planes trying to sink the ship. Mead died either from being hit by a bomb fragment, or by bullets that were being sprayed over the deck from the Japanese Zeros.,
Language
English,
Subject
Second World War, 1939-1945,
Bombing of Darwin,
Roll of Honour,
Northern Territory history,
148th field artillery, tulagi,