1st Lieutenant Ferris L. Wharton (1915–1944)

*Ferris Leon Wharton (Courtesy of the Delaware Public Archives)*

Home State	Civilian Occupation
Delaware	Physical education teacher
Branch	Service Numbers
U.S. Marine Corps Reserve	Enlisted 401050 / Officer 016303
Theater	Unit
Pacific	Weapons Company, 21st Marine Regiment, Third Marine Division
Awards	Campaigns/Battles
Purple Heart	Guam
Military Occupational Specialty
1222 (tank destroyer unit commander)

Early Life & Family

Ferris Leon Wharton was born on May 8, 1915 in Ocean View, Delaware. He was the son of Ferris Bringhurst Wharton (1877–1960) and Mary Ellen Wharton (née Gray, 1881–1952). Wharton had an older sister Mildred Ida Wharton (later Phillips, c. 1904–1989) and a younger brother Guy Leroy Wharton (1918–2003, a career U.S. Marine Corps officer who retired at the grade of colonel). At the time of the census on January 14, 1920, the Ferris family was living on Main Street in Ocean View. Wharton’s father Ferris B. Wharton was working as a boat pilot at the time. According to Wharton’s nephew, the family lived in Lewes, Delaware for about four years sometime in the 1920s before moving to Newark. By the time of the next census on April 14, 1930, the Whartons had moved to 128 Kells Avenue in Newark. Ferris B. Wharton was listed as a barge captain.

*Ferris Wharton (right) in his baseball uniform (Courtesy of Ferris W. Wharton)*

Wharton played both baseball and basketball at Newark High School, graduating on June 15, 1934. After graduating from high school, Wharton spent one year at the Augusta Military Academy in Fort Defiance, Virginia. He attended College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Delaware in Newark beginning in September 1935, where he was a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (R.O.T.C.) cadet and played baseball as well as basketball.

Wharton married Dorothy Eleanor West (1917–1982) in Elkton, Maryland on August 17, 1936. After graduating from the Women’s College at University of Delaware in 1937, his wife subsequently became a public schoolteacher at the H. J. Krebs School in Newport, Delaware.

Wharton graduated from the University of Delaware in 1939. Shortly thereafter, a September 2, 1939 article in the Wilmington Morning News reported that he had “been appointed to the faculty of the Caroline High School at Denton, Md. He will teach history and physical education and will coach the soccer, baseball, and basketball teams.”

Wharton apparently didn’t end up starting the job (or left prior to the end of the school year), because Ferris and Dorothy Wharton were recorded on the census on April 4, 1940 as living at 214 Market Street in Newport, Delaware. Wharton was listed as a clerk for a wholesale grocery.

However, by the time Wharton registered for the draft on October 16, 1940, he was working as a physical education teacher at the Park School in Baltimore, Maryland. Curiously, he listed his address on the draft registration as his parents’ home, 124 Kells Avenue in Newark. However, he registered for the draft in Baltimore and an October 26, 1940 article in the Wilmington Morning News stated that he “resides at 3318 Edgerton Road, Baltimore.” Potentially, Wharton could have been splitting his time between the two addresses, given that his wife was still working in Newport, Delaware. Indeed, 124 Kells Avenue was his wife’s address of record during his military service.

Wharton was described on his draft card as standing five feet, nine inches tall and weighing 160 lbs., with brown hair and hazel eyes. (His U.S. Marine Corps service certificate described him as five feet, eight inches tall and his eyes as blue.) He took a leave of absence during or at the end of the 1941–2 academic year in order to enlist.

Training Stateside & New Zealand

Wharton volunteered for the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve on May 23, 1942 at the District Headquarters Station Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since Wharton was earmarked for officer training, he entered the U.S.M.C.R. at the grade of private 1st class. After his enlistment, Wharton was temporarily placed on inactive duty. He went on active duty on September 8, 1942, when he began officer training as a member of Company “F,” (12th Candidates’ Class), Marine Corps Schools at the Marine Corps Barracks in Quantico, Virginia.

Lieutenant Ferris L. Wharton. His nametag is unusual for the era. (Courtesy of Ferris W. Wharton)

Wharton was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve on November 14, 1942. 2nd Lieutenant Wharton remained in Quantico while attending a Reserve Officers’ Class through January 19, 1943. The Reserve Officers’ Class (not to be confused with the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps) was an advanced course for commissioned officers. On January 20, 1943, 2nd Lieutenant Wharton was transferred to the Fleet Marine Force at Marine Barracks, Camp Elliott in San Diego, California.

On February 3, 1943, 2nd Lieutenant Wharton joined “A” Battery, 2nd Antitank Battalion at Camp Elliott in San Diego, California. The unit boarded the S.S. Mormacport at the port of San Diego on February 20, 1943, setting sail that same day for the Pacific Theater. The ship stopped briefly in Auckland, New Zealand on March 9, 1943 before sailing for Wellington. The 2nd Antitank Battalion disembarked at Wellington on March 15, 1943 and was assigned to the I Marine Amphibious Corps on March 31.

The 2nd Antitank Battalion spent subsequent months training in New Zealand. The battalion was assigned to the 2nd Marine Division on August 1, 1943. On October 30, 1943, word arrived that Wharton had been promoted to 1st lieutenant with an effective date of September 30, 1943 (October 1 according to his U.S.M.C. service certificate).

The 2nd Antitank Battalion did not accompany the rest of the 2nd Marine Division to the Battle of Tarawa, instead sailing from Auckland aboard the transport U.S.S. Pinkney on November 30, 1943. The battalion arrived at Noumea, New Caledonia on December 4, 1943. The 2nd Antitank Battalion disbanded on December 17, 1943 and 1st Lieutenant Wharton transferred to the I Marine Amphibious Corps Transient Center. Ten days later, he transferred to the 34th Replacement Battalion to await reassignment.

Wharton (seated second from right) with officers and N.C.O.s. Presumably taken on New Caledonia or Guadalcanal, it is unclear if the unit is the 2nd Antitank Battalion or his next unit, the 21st Marines. The arrow points to Wharton’s platoon sergeant. Note the dog (no doubt a unit mascot) in the front row at left! (Courtesy of Ferris W. Wharton)

Combat on Guam

On January 9, 1944, 1st Lieutenant Wharton was assigned the 21st Marine Regiment, Third Marine Division (then in transit after fighting in the Bougainville Campaign). He joined the Regimental Weapons Company, 21st Marines with the duty of platoon leader on January 11, 1944, the same day the regiment arrived back on Guadalcanal.

Weapons Company, 21st Marine Regiment muster rolls listed 1st Lieutenant Wharton’s Military Occupational Specialty (M.O.S.) as 1222 (tank destroyer unit commander). That suggests that he commanded the company’s 75 mm gun platoon. That consisted of four M3 Gun Motor Carriages (tank destroyers with a 75 mm gun mounted on an M3 halftrack). The Marines referred to it as a Self-Propelled Mount (S.P.M.). Though it was clear by 1943 that the M3 G.M.C. was outclassed by Axis armor in the Mediterranean and European Theaters, it was more than powerful enough to handle the far weaker Japanese tanks encountered in the Pacific. In the absence of enemy armor, it could be used as self-propelled artillery. Notwithstanding his M.O.S., the other possibility is that he could have commanded a 37 mm antitank gun platoon. (See Notes section for further information.)

In the 21st Marines, 1st Lieutenant Wharton likely commanded a platoon of halftracks armed with 75 mm cannons similar to this one. Technically, the halftrack pictured above is not a factory M3 G.M.C., but it has that vehicle’s 75 mm cannon and gun shield mounted on an M2 halftrack instead. It also has considerable extra armament in the form of least four machine guns. (Official U.S Marine Corps photo, National Archives)

In late May 1944, Lieutenant Wharton and his men shipped out from Guadalcanal (probably aboard LST-447) bound for the Mariana Islands. D-Day on Saipan was scheduled for June 15, 1944 and the landings on nearby Guam for June 18 (designated W-Day). Wharton’s unit was part of the Southern Landing Force, with orders to recapture Guam. Guam was a U.S. territory that had been under Japanese occupation since December 10, 1941. W-Day was postponed due to Japanese fleet movements (culminating in the Battle of the Philippine Sea) and because resources were shifted to Saipan. In late June 1944, Wharton’s ship temporarily headed back to Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands after the operation was delayed. The flotilla headed back towards Guam on July 15, 1944.

In a November 24, 1944 letter to Dorothy Wharton, Sergeant Charles H. Schweitzer, Jr. (1921–1966) wrote: “Lt. Wharton and I came in together in the same boat. We talked quite a bit and most of the time he said ‘Well Schweitzer this is my last one and then I’m going home.[’]” Intended as a joke—Lieutenant Wharton had been a Marine for over two years but had yet to see combat—the statement was to prove ironic.

Sergeant Schweitzer continued:

He came very close to seeing his brother and [kept] talking about him. But most of the time we were talking about the folks back home. Figuring when this war was over we would take up where we all left off. He loved you very much and by his talking it seems I’ve known [you] a long time. I never met a finer man or officer.

The invasion of Guam was rescheduled for July 21, 1944 with H-Hour at 0830. That day, the 21st Marines landed near Asan at the sector designated Green Beach.

*Landings near Asan, Guam on July 21, 1944; the two large vessels are two L.S.T.s like the ship Lieutenant Wharton sailed aboard (National Archives via Naval History and Heritage Command)*

*Marines on the beaches of Guam on July 21, 1944 (Official U.S. Marine Corps photo, National Archives)*

Sergeant Schweitzer’s letter continued:

When we landed we were under mortar fire and we had to stay close to the beach to do our job. Ever[y] once in a while he’d say “It’s getting a little warm here isn’t it[?”] He always had a joke or a smile no matter how tough the going was. We had finished the job on the beach and started to move inland. It was quiet now and easy to move. We arrived at our destination and the Lt. immediately started looking out for his men. It was then that they got our range.

1st Lieutenant Wharton was struck in the back by multiple shell fragments. Sergeant Schweitzer recalled:

The Lt. and a few of his platoon were hit. I’m sure Lt. Wharton did not suffer. The medical corpsman and I were the first to reach him. He was unconscious and never regained. We did everything humanly possible but we could not save him.

*1st Lieutenant Wharton’s temporary grave marker on Guam (Courtesy of Ferris W. Wharton)*

Burial & Honors

1st Lieutenant Wharton was initially buried at the 21st Marines Cemetery on Guam on July 22, 1944 (Row 2, Grave 8). Guam was secured on August 10, 1944. Shortly thereafter, Wharton was reburied at the Army, Navy, and Marine Cemetery No. 3 on Guam on August 28, 1944 (Plot A, Row 25, Grave 9).

Sergeant Schweitzer wrote:

Mrs. Wharton, your husband’s platoon was down to represent our regiment at the ceremonies at the cemetery on Guam. There were not many of the Lt’s men left but we all were there. I still have the feeling that when taps were sounded the Lt. was watching. Most of all of his old men felt the same way. We all thought we lost a lot but compared to your loss ours is trivial.

1st Lieutenant Wharton was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.

*Sergeant Charles H. Schweitzer, Jr., who wrote Lieutenant Wharton’s wife reporting the circumstances of his death (Courtesy of Trudy Waters)*

Wharton’s widow Dorothy married Alfred Stroud Maclary (1923–1993) in Newark on June 27, 1947. The couple raised two daughters.

After the war, 1st Lieutenant Wharton’s mother requested that his body be returned to the United States. After his funeral on the afternoon of April 14, 1949, Wharton was buried at Arlington National Cemetery (Section 34, Grave 4417).

Sergeant Schweitzer—who was wounded the day after Lieutenant Wharton was killed—was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps in January 1946. After his death in 1966, he was also buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Wharton is honored on the Newark War Memorial on the grounds of the Academy Building at East Main Street and Academy Street, on the University of Delaware’s World War II memorial on The Green in front of Mitchell Hall, and at Veteran’s Memorial Park in New Castle.

1st Lieutenant Wharton’s brother Guy and his wife Mildred (1921–2016) raised a daughter and two sons, one of whom they named Ferris W. Wharton. On November 13, 1999, he gave the keynote address for a rededication ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the Newark War Memorial.

Documents

Click to any document to view a larger copy.

Sergeant Charles H. Schweitzer, Jr. November 24, 1944 letter pg. 1

Notes

Address in Newport

I believe that 214 Market Street listed on the 1940 census is now known as 214 West Market Street.

Draft Number

According to the October 26, 1940 Wilmington Morning News article, Wharton had the highest draft number in Delaware in October 1940, apparently because “his card was transferred to the New Castle [County] board from Baltimore, where he had registered.”

Service Notes

Eastern Recruiting Division muster rolls indicate that Private 1st Class Wharton was carried on the rolls of the Platoon Leaders’ Unit, 4th Reserve District at the Marine Barracks, Philadelphia Navy Yard from June 1, 1942 until he went on active duty in Quantico. Given his inactive status, there’s no indication that he was present or performing training during that time.

Although a valuable source of information, some of the dates that Dorothy Wharton recorded in the Individual Military Service Record are off by a few months.

Wharton’s commissioning date was listed as November 13, 1942 in the 12th Candidates’ Class muster roll, but November 14 on his casualty card and the certificate of service provided to his family.

Since the main body of the 21st Marine Regiment was in transit when he was transferred into the unit, 1st Lieutenant Wharton spent January 9–11, 1944 with the rear echelon on the regiment, joining his new company when it arrived on Guadalcanal on January 11.

M3 G.M.C. (S.P.M.)

The halftrack pictured above is technically not a factory M3 G.M.C. Rather, it has that vehicle’s 75 mm cannon and gun shield mounted on an M2 halftrack instead. It also has considerable extra armament in the form of least four machine guns; the standard U.S. Army M3 G.M.C. had none, though Gordon L. Rottman wrote in his book World War II US Marine Infantry Regiments that “Each SPM mounted an M1919A4 LMG [light machine gun], and the platoon HQ had a fifth.”

Journey to Guam/M.O.S.

There are some discrepancies in accounts of Lieutenant Wharton’s journey to Guam. His unit’s muster rolls from May 1944 stated that Lieutenant Wharton boarded U.S.S. LST-447 on Guadalcanal on May 23, 1944 and departed the following day. June and July 1944 muster rolls indicate he remained aboard until landing at Guam on July 21, 1944. LST-447’s war diary indicates that the Marines boarded on May 21, 1944 and conducted practice maneuvers on May 23. The vessel remained in Purvis Bay, Florida Island (just north of Guadalcanal) until May 31, 1944 when she departed for Kwajalein, en route to the Mariana Islands. Minor discrepancies between Marine muster rolls and ship records are not uncommon.

A larger discrepancy, perhaps, is that LST-447’s war diary for July 21, 1944 stated that “At 0731 we commenced unloading the [amphibian] tractors and dukws in the launching area.” There is no mention of the ship approaching any closer than 3,000 yards from the beach, nor of them unloading any conventional vehicles until July 23. If Lieutenant Wharton and his men were aboard LST-447, it would suggest that they went ashore without their vehicles.

It’s also possible that I could have misinterpreted Lieutenant Wharton’s M.O.S. (“tank destroyer unit commander”) as pertaining to the S.P.M. platoon; Marine weapons companies also had three platoons of 37 mm antitank guns, each commanded by a lieutenant. If the latter were true, however, I would have expected his M.O.S. to be antitank unit commander or something similar. Only two other lieutenants in the unit had M.O.S.s listed, both 1542 (infantry unit commander).

W-Day

Although the day of amphibious operations was traditionally designated D-Day (though D-Day in Normandy is by far the most famous), W-Day was used for Guam to avoid confusion with D-Day on nearby Saipan.

The report “III Amphibious Corps Report on Guam Operation” explained why 1st Lieutenant Wharton and his men spent so long aboard ship before entering combat: “Because of the distance to the objective and the postponement of W-Day for thirty-three days, it was necessary to keep the troops embarked on transports and LST’s, for an average of fifty days.”

Wharton Drive and Maclary Elementary School

Wharton Drive in Newark may be named after 1st Lieutenant Wharton, but I have been unable to confirm that. Though she was a teacher, Maclary Elementary School in Newark is not named after Dorothy Maclary but rather her mother-in-law R. Elisabeth Maclary, also an educator.

Transcription of Sergeant Charles H. Schweitzer, Jr.’s Letter

November 24, 1944.
Dear Mrs. Wharton:
          I received your letter today and I’m very sorry my letter has not yet arrived. It must have left an impression that I had not wrote. But believe me Mrs. Wharton I was only too glad to write.
          Sometimes I think that this is all a bad dream and then I wake into reality. It wasn’t fair and many a time I wonder if all the sacrifices are in vain. God I hope not.
          Mrs. Wharton, your husband’s platoon was down to represent our regiment at the ceremonies at the cemetery on Guam. There were not many of the Lt’s men left but we all were there. I still have the feeling that when taps were sounded the Lt. was watching. Most of all of his old men felt the same way. We all thought we lost a lot but compared to your loss ours is trivial.
          I was with Lt. Wharton continuously for two months and we had many a long talk.
          Lt. Wharton and I came in together in the same boat. We talked quite a bit and most of the time he said “Well Schweitzer this is my last one and then I’m going home.[”] He came very close to seeing his brother and [kept] talking about him. But most of the time we were talking about the folks back home. Figuring when this war was over we would take up where we all left off. He loved you very much and by his talking it seems I’ve known his wife a long time. I never met a finer man or officer.
          When we landed we were under mortar fire and we had to stay close to the beach to do our job. Ever[y] once in a while he’d say “It’s getting a little warm here isn’t it[?”] He always had a joke or a smile no matter how tough the going was. We had finished the job on the beach and started to move inland. It was quiet now and easy to move. We arrived at our destination and the Lt. immediately started looking out for his men. It was then that they got our range. The Lt. and a few of his platoon were hit. I’m sure Lt. Wharton did not suffer. The medical corpsman and I were the first to reach him. He was unconscious and never regained. We did everything humanly possible but we could not save him.
          This is about all I know of the circumstances. Everything else seems so confused, I just cannot seem to make out certain details.
          I hope this has helped you, Mrs. Wharton. And if at any time you wish to ask again, please do. I’ll be only too happy to oblidge [sic] you. I was happy to be considered the Lt’s friend and more than happy to have his wife consider me a friend also.
Sincerely
Sgt C. H. Schweitzer

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to 1st Lieutenant Wharton’s nephew Ferris W. Wharton for providing many of the photos and documents accompanying this article. Thanks also to Geoffrey Roecker, Webmaster & Lead Researcher at Missing Marines (https://missingmarines.com/) and First Battalion, 24th Marines (https://1-24thmarines.com/) for providing valuable information related to this piece, and to the Delaware Public Archives for the use of their photo of 1st Lieutenant Wharton. Finally, let me express my appreciation to Trudy Waters for the use of her photo of Sergeant Schweitzer.

Bibliography

“1LT Ferris Leon Wharton.” Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49337079/ferris-leon-wharton

“III Amphibious Corps Report on Guam Operation.” Headquarters, III Amphibious Corps, September 3, 1944. Record Group 38, Records of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, 1875–2006. National Archives at College Park, Maryland. https://www.fold3.com/image/283021795

“Army Draftees Study Significance In Numbers.” Wilmington Morning News, October 26, 1940. Pg. 1 and 15. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75227228/ferris-wharton-high-draft-number/

Certificate of Military Service for Ferris L. Wharton, July 15, 1949. Courtesy of Ferris W. Wharton.

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Ferris Leon Wharton U.S. Marine Corps Casualty Card. National Archives.

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“Lt. Ferris L. Wharton Reburial Is Arranged.” Journal-Every Evening, April 12, 1949. Pg. 29. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74205473/ferris-wharton-obituary/

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“War Memorial rededication tomorrow.” The Newark Post, November 12, 1999. Pg. 1 and 5. https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/13983

Wharton, Dorothy. Ferris Leon Wharton Individual Military Service Record, April 16, 1946. Record Group 1325-003-053, Delaware Public Archives, Dover, Delaware. https://cdm16397.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15323coll6/id/21323/rec/2

Wharton, Ferris W. Phone interview on March 24, 2021.

World War II Veterans Compensation Applications. Record Group 19, Series 19.92, Records of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/3147/images/43191_2321306652_0710-02945

WWII Draft Registration Cards for Delaware, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947. Record Group 147, Records of the Selective Service System. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2238/images/44003_04_00009-01628

Last updated on July 5, 2021