KAUFFMAN-JOHN

DIED  ON  THE  2^ND  DAY  OF  WORLD  WAR II  WHILE  A  POW

Part of the plan of the Empire of Japan during World War II was to capture Guam.  By March of 1941, Japan was already flying photo reconnaissance over the island and by September of that year the plans for an invasion of Guam were completed.  The U.S. government did not think it would be practical or possible to defend the island of Guam if the Japanese attacked it and in 1938 when the Navy asked for permission to build new fortifications on Guam the proposal was rejected.  On the morning of December 8, 1941 (December 7 east of the International Date Line), the forces on Guam received notice about the Pearl Harbor attack and within a very few hours Japanese planes began attacking the Navy and Marine Corps installations on Guam.  The USS PENGUIN (AM-33), a minesweeper which was the largest U.S. Navy vessel located in Guam at the time, was sunk and on December 10th the meager Navy and Marine Corps forces surrendered to a vastly superior Japanese force.

PFC John W. Kauffman was a member of the small force at Sumay Marine Barracks and was one of the marines who became a POW of the Japanese on the second day of World War II.  During the defense of Guam, five marines were killed during the Japanese assault and PFC Kauffman reportedly became the only marine to die on the island after becoming a POW.  The exact details of his death are in question.  One account of his death reports that when the marines were instructed to pass through two columns of soldiers and remove their clothing Kauffman, who was described as “a hot head,” was shoved and mouthed off to a Japanese guard by saying, ”F--- you.”  The report continued that unfortunately the guard seemed to know what it meant and he ripped into Kauffman’s midsection with his bayonet.  Another report stated that Kauffman had a nerve defect that caused his face to twitch uncontrollably and a Japanese guard thought that Kauffman’s twitching eye was a show of mockery and plunged his bayonet into Kauffman’s stomach.  Although the exact cause of the guard’s actions are not known it is undisputed that Kauffman died on the spot due to being bayonetted by a Japanese guard.  PFC Kauffman has been laid to rest at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)