By Deborah Larsen
Charles Arthur Gotchling, Jr.
Charles Arthur Gotchling, Jr. was born in Detroit, Michigan, on February 6, 1921, the son of Charles and Esther Johnson Gotchling. The family moved to Avon Township when Charles was a teenager and lived on Avon Road. Charles was an automobile factory trades apprentice before the war.
In February 1942, Charles enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and was trained as an aerial gunner. He was assigned to Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 236 (VMSB-236), which flew the SBD Dauntless dive bomber. The squadron trained in Hawaii and was sent to Guadalcanal in September 1943. It was tasked with making strikes against Bougainville to prepare for an anticipated Allied landing.
On December 1, 1943, Charles was serving aboard an SBD Dauntless on a mission to bomb and strafe enemy runways and gun emplacements at Kara and Chabai in the Solomon Islands. His airplane was lost in the raid, and he was declared missing in action. The War Department declared him killed in action in 1946. His remains were classified as unrecoverable.
Charles Arthur Gotchling, Jr., was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.