Clarence Bartlett, a house painter and native Alexandrian born in 1896 got married for his second time at age 24 to Annie Burnhearte in DC. In 1930 they rented, and in 1940 bought the house at 2300 Randolph, since demolished. There they raised no fewer than three sons and six daughters, including Elmer, who had been born in October 1924.

He played football on the GWHS team but left school after his junior year to enlisted in the Marines. After training he was assigned to Company B of the newly-raised 25th Marine Regiment and deployed to the Pacific with them in December 1943. In the invasion of Saipan he was shot in the abdomen on 4 July 1944, the wound serious enough to keep him in the hospital for five months. Corporal Bartlett got out in time to rejoin the regiment for the invasion of Iwo Jima, where he was killed in action on 19 February 1945, the first day of the invasion, age 20 years. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

World War Two Losses

Elmer R Bartlett