Age:  28

Patrolman Biddle was, while serving as a Cincinnati Patrolman, a United States Navy Reservists.  The Navy activated him to serve during World War II in the medical corps.  By May 1945 he was a Pharmacist’s Mate Second Class and apparently attached to the 1st Marine Division during the Battle of Okinawa.  After the United States military invaded the Ryukyu Islands in what was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific Theater of World War II, U.S. land forces included the Tenth Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., including 81,000 Marine Corps personnel.  Buckner launched an attack on May 11 and, by May 18,1945, they had captured Conical Hill and Sugar Loaf Hill.  The Japanese mounted a battalion-sized counterattack.  The Marines held, but on May 19, 1945, PHM2 Biddle was killed in action. 

PHM2 Biddle was survived by his father, Reverend Earle Biddle, Sr., of West Virginia.

PHM2 Biddle was buried on Okinawa in the 1st Marine Division Cemetery, Kadena, Okinawa.  During 1948, he was removed from that grave (along with all U.S. military personnel), and re-interred in Zachary Taylor National Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky. 

If you have further information, artifacts, or pictures of this officer, please contact the Museum Director at Director@GCPHS.com.