When World War II erupted with Japan Pensacolian Jacque “Jack” Warren Eubanks (below) enlisted in the Marine Corps right after graduation from high school in 1943. He was assigned to the 1st Marine Division and sent to the shores of Peleliu for the upcoming bloodbath. The island of Peleliu was a natural fortress with its towering limestone ridges. Enemy artillery batteries, machine gun nests, and blockhouses had been dug into the soft rock by the Japanese engineers. Many of them had interconnecting tunnels and most were too deep to be affected by the American naval and aerial bombardment that rained down upon them during the initial bombardment. The island was defended by 5,000 Japanese troops plus 5,000 auxiliary personnel there to support them. When the order was given on September 15, 1944, Jack and his fellow Marines went over the side of their transport and climbed down the cargo nets into the waiting boats that were pitching alongside in the rolling seas. His landing craft (below arrow shows Jack in his landing craft) slowly made its way past the burning wrecks and mangled corpses of the first landing wave, which had been cut down by the enfilading artillery and mortar fire reminiscent of the horror of Tarawa. Jack was unlucky enough to be part of the group that assaulted the most heavily fortified strip of beach near the airfield. Sadly, it was there that he died when an enemy mortar round exploded at his feet as he crouched for cover in his improvised foxhole.
Jack’s brother was Carl B. Eubanks Jr., Pensacola High School Class of 1943. After the war, Carl’s radio business flourished to the point that Carl decided to build a shop of his own in 1946. He built it right next door to his boyhood home on a parcel of land his family owned. He used the $10,000.00 insurance money from Jack’s WWII death to build a 480-square foot store at #105 East Gregory Street while he and his mother continued to live next door at #107.
In 1946, Private Jack Eubanks was disinterred from the Marine Corps cemetery on the island of Peleliu and brought back home to Pensacola by the US government. After his arrival, he was re-interred in the Bayview Cemetery on Scenic Highway where he still rests today (below).
Private Jacques "Jack" Eubanks, USMC, Pensacola High Class of 1943
USMC Jacques "Jack" Eubanks Heading Towards the Shore of Peleliu 1944
Pensacola News Journal Announcement of Jacques "Jack" Death on Peleliu