Humbert William “Toto” Gandara was born on 26 July 1924 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles county, California to Jose and Eglantina (Garcia) Gandara; he had four siblings; dad worked in the steel factory. Humbert attended Theodore Roosevelt High School and was part of the “Los Cabellero” club in 1941; he registered for the draft on 30 June 1942 standing 5’11” tall, weighing 140 pounds with brown eyes and hair, a scar behind his right ear and a mole on his upper lip.

Private Humbert William Gandara (service number 481818) served with Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Regiment, 2nd Marine Division as they fought during the Battle of Tarawa, Gilbert Islands beginning 20 November 1943. They were to secure the airstrip to prevent Japanese forces from getting closer to the US as well as the airstrip being crucial for the US offensive across the central Pacific. The initial landing was hampered by low tides forcing US troops to leave landing craft and wade ashore. Unfortunately for the Marines, the beach was shaped in such a way that it created a crossfire by the Japanese on shore; casualties were highest this day and many never set foot on the beach. For those who survived the landing, they faced a network of obstacles with fighting close in and savage; forty artillery pieces, nearly 500 pillboxes and a system of trenches and fortifications manned by trained, determined Japanese forces. It would become one of the bloodiest battles in the Corps history. It was on that first day, 20 November 1943, that Pvt. Humbert Gandara gave his life; he is listed in the Courts of the Missing, Honolulu Memorial, Hawaii.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

SOURCES: Find-a-Grave; FamilySearch.org; Ancestry.com; Wikipedia

HUMBERT WILLIAM GANDARA