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Merriell Allesandro Shelton (January 21, 1922 – May 3, 1993) was a US Marine Corps Corporal who served in the Pacific theater during World War II. He was one of Eugene Sledge's fellow Marines got his nickname "Snafu" from his cocky personality and demeanor.

Biography[]

Merriell Shelton was born on January 21, 1922, in Louisiana. Of Cajun descent, Shelton was described as speaking with a "thick accent". He served in the Civilian Conservation Corps in his youth. During his early life, Merriell worked as an HVAC technician until serving in the Civilian Conservation Corps, then eventually enlisted in the Marines at some point after giving up his sister and served along with Romus Valton Burgin and assigned to K Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, US 1st Marine Division (K/3/5) and served as a mortar man and participated in the Battle of Cape Gloucester.

Meeting Sledge[]

Snafu was in a cabin with Jay De L'Eau and Burgin when he denies Sledge and other Privates the opportunity to bunk in his tent. He is later seen supervising new Privates Eugene Sledge, Bill Leyden, and Robert Oswalt as clean oil drums, a detail he didn't need to supervise but did anyway just to give the Privates a hard time. Shelton later participates in the Battle of Peleliu, where he is later seen prying a dead Imperial Japanese soldier's jaw off to retrieve the gold teeth inside. Sledge witnesses this incident and was greatly disturbed. Snafu is later part of the Airfield assault. He was struck down by the shockwave of a shell, but Sledge rushed back and pulled him up. They set up position and began showering the Japanese garrison with mortars.

The next morning, Snafu began bonding with Sledge by asking the latter about his reading of the Bible and writing habit, citing that it should not be done in order to deny the Japanese soldiers of intel should they find the notes. Sledge calmly replied by saying he wouldn't show it to them, which made Snafu smile. He then asked Sledge for a smoke and thanked him by giving Sledge the nickname "Sledgehammer". He also exchanged jokes with the others and called Bill Leyden the "ballpeen hammer" and "little man".

Okinawa[]

When the US 1st Marine Division is again called upon to assist in the Battle of Okinawa, and Snafu is with them. Snafu has been promoted to Corporal and is first seen exchanging his old poncho for replacement Pvt. Tony Peck's poncho which leads to Peck switching his poncho with one placed over a pile 60mm mortar rounds to keep them dry.

While on Okinawa, Shelton began to show signs of emotional trauma. The first time was after an encounter with an Okinawan woman rigged with explosive begging the marines to save her baby, followed by a Japanese machine gun mowing down civilians. Just after the ordeal, a mortar strike is ordered, but Pvt. Peck had taken the good poncho covering the stored rounds for himself and put his less-than-waterproof poncho over them. The rounds were then wet in the constant rain of Okinawa, resulting in what is are called a "short round" which showered Snafu's teammates with shells, which reminds the viewer of the scene where Sledge is in mortar training and the sergeant instructs them on the danger of short rounds. While sitting across Sledge after surviving the mortar shower, Snafu was visibly shaken.

During a rainy night when he started arguing with Sledge, his outburst caused Pvt. Peck to lose his nerve and start firing off rounds blindly at the Japanese position. Another Marine private named Noah Hamm, along with Snafu and the others while trying to pull Peck down, was shot and killed. Snafu was holding Peck's poncho in remorse.

Capturing Shuri Castle[]

After the 1st Marines captured Shuri Castle, Shelton and Sledge were looking into a hut where they hear crying. Upon checking the house, the crying turns out to be a baby. The baby and a dying woman are the sole survivor of a mortar shelling which Sledge believes was directed by him earlier in the battle. Snafu leaves without noticing the woman, but Sledge does and is later seen walking out of the hut after cradling the woman in her final moments. Towards the end of the Okinawa campaign Snafu is seen basking in the sunlight and having a conversation with Sledge and Burgin. The two Marines notice Sledge's lighter which used to belong to Gunnery Sergeant. Elmo Haney, this slightly surprising Snafu and Burgin.

Heading home[]

In 1946, Shelton, Sledge, and Burgin later return to their respective homes in a train after some service in China during the Chinese Civil War. Burgin goes out first, and Snafu soon follows that night. While leaving, he noticeably wanted to talk to Sledge before doing so, but Sledge was fast asleep. Snafu instead then leaves the train holding his tongue and never speaks to his friends again for 35 years until Sledge released his memoirs, "With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa". Snafu stayed in Louisiana and worked in the lumber business and air conditioning repair, married and had two sons Floyd and Allen: but Floyd died before his father, in 1990.

Death[]

Shelton died on May 3, 1993, in Jackson, Louisiana. Sledge was one of his pallbearers. He is buried at the Bowman-Dedon Cemetery, in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana alongside his wife.

Gallery[]

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