Andrew Allison Haldane (22 August 1917 – 12 October 1944) was an American soldier who served in the US Marine Corps at the rank of Captain. He was the commanding officer of King Company, 3rd Battalion, US 5th Marines (K/3/5) in the Pacific theatre during World War II and was nicknamed "Ack-Ack" before he was killed during the Battle of Peleliu on October 12, 1944.
Biography[]
Haldane was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on August 22, 1917, the son of Scottish immigrants. He graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine and was the captain of the football team and president of the student council, Halwane was also voted most popular senior in 1940. He became the assistant football coach at Bowdoin in October 1941 after graduating that June. Halwane had planned to coach for a season before joining the United States Marine Corps, but was drafted after coaching for two more weeks.
In 1942, Haldane was promoted to second lieutenant in the Marines and graduated from the Reserve Officers' Training School in Quantico. He served with the US 1st Marine Division during the Battle of Guadalcanal and was the commanding officer of Company K at Cape Gloucester, where he received the Silver Star, the second-highest award for valor, twice: one for leading hand-to-hand combat in a fight on Walt's Ridge and one in Peleliu. He then led Company K through most of the fight for the Battle of Peleliu before he was shot in the head by an Imperial Japanese sniper, killing him, while assessing the area of Hill 140 during the Battle of Peleliu in the Palau Islands, three days before the Marines came off the lines.
A Sea Scouts Ship was named in his honor at his old college. The memory of Captain Andrew Haldane was honored annually by presenting the Haldane Cup to the graduating senior who has displayed outstanding qualities of leadership and character.
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