Milburn W. Coyman was born on 2/22/1919 New Jersey
Milburn W. Coyman was in the Army, as a Private first class with the
306th Infantry Regiment, and 77th Infantry Division and was killed in action on 7/26/1944 at the age of only 25.
Millburn W. Coyman received the Bronze Star, Purple Heart.
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Material obtained by George Toriello from;
US World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946:
https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=8939&h=4254996&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=TAt1484&_phstart=successSource
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U.S. Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939-1945:
https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=1102&h=67003&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=TAt1485&_phstart=successSource
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WWI, WWII and Korean War Casualty Listings:
(Coyman buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii)
https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=8853&h=121097&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=TAt1486&_phstart=successSource
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National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific:
(Gravesite info)
https://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/index.html?cemetery=N899
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George Toriello supplied this information about Millburn Coyman’s Regiments movement when he was killed in action;
The Marines invaded Guam on 21 July 1944, over a month later than
originally planned.
The 305th Infantry Regiment was the first large unit of the 77th Infantry Division to go ashore that day, landing on the northern beachheads established by the
1st Provisional Marine Brigade. The 2nd Battalion of the regiment led the way, impeded by a lack of amphibious tractors to take them to the beach. As their landing craft could not take them over the reef, most of the soldiers had to disembark and wade the rest of the way in, cutting their boots on the coral and sometimes falling into holes. Fortunately, there was no enemy resistance to turn this into a redox of Tarawa.
General Geiger was reluctant to part with his reserve, and thus the other two regiments were landed piecemeal, with the (Coyman's unit) 306th coming next; the 307th was retained as the last floating reserve. Then it too landed, on 23 July.
Though as green a division as one could find in the Pacific at the time, the 77th performed well, and maintained a good working relationship with the Marines. Ronald Spector characterizes Bruce as “an aggressive, intelligence commander.” If anything, Bruce was almost too aggressive, even for the Marines. In one instance, at Eniwetok on 11 July, he pressed upon the Marines a plan for his division to make a daring secondary landing. When this was rejected, he appealed to General Geiger, who had already sailed for the Marianas. Geiger too turned him down, on the grounds that it was far too late for a major change in plan.
The battle for Guam was much quicker than that for Saipan. By (Coyman's KIA date)
26 July 1944, the Japanese were essentially broken, though much fighting remained.
The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade captured the airfields and Orote Peninsula, while the 77th Infantry Division linked up with the 3rd Marine Division and pushed north and west, taking the capital of Agana on 31 July. By the end of the battle, the division lost 248 killed in action and 663 wounded. On the other side of the ledger, it was credited with killing 2,741 Japanese, and capturing 36 prisoners. Interestingly, on Guam the 77th Infantry Division went from being a reserve for contingencies, to acting as the exploitation force, breaking off from the smaller Marine brigade, which operated closer to the western shore of the island. The Marines spearheaded the landings, and the Army made them worthwhile.
**Source: THE 77TH INFANTRY DIVISION IN WORLD WAR II ~ A STUDY IN EXCELLENCE (ARMY)
http://www.jimwerbaneth.com/online_features/77id.html
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Written by:
Bob Meli
June 21, 2018
