Where They Came From
This space will eventually serve as a gateway to a digital public history project I’ve been working on, Where They Came From: Mapping the Men of Company L, 22nd Marines, Sixth Marine Division. The project uses roll call records from the U.S. Marine Corps to trace the lives and origins of the men who served in Company L—the same unit my grandfather fought with during the Battle of Okinawa. These records list over 250 names, but offer little else. Through this work, I’m trying to give those names back their stories—to find out where these men came from and what became of them after the war. It’s about restoring humanity to a list that history left incomplete.
Below, you will find status updates on the project.
March and April 2025 Updates
Over the past couple of months, I’ve made solid progress gathering information on the men of Company L. As you can see in the photo on the right, the spreadsheet I’m building includes each Marine’s name, rank, billet number (their specific job in the USMC), and hometown or last known location. I’ve also started attaching images of their World War II draft registration cards and, when possible, adding details about what happened to them during the Battle of Okinawa.
The rows highlighted in orange mark the Marines I’m still trying to track down—I haven’t been able to find their draft cards yet or confirm where they were from.
Alongside this research, I submitted a short piece to the Sixth Marine Division Association’s seasonal newsletter (listed under My Grandpa’s War). In the essay, I introduced readers to this digital history project and invited anyone with loved ones who served in Company L to reach out. My hope is that this database will grow—not just with names and numbers, but with personal stories, letters, and photographs that help bring these Marines back into view as real people, not just entries in a military record. I hope they can publish the essay to expand the reach of this project even more.
