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Remember...Mack Kidd
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Mack Kidd was born at Cabin Creek [Wet Branch], Kanawha County, West Virginia, on January 7, 1924, to parents Jesse Henry Kidd and Edith Allison Kidd of Dry Branch. The 1940 Federal Census states that Jesse's occupation was that of electrician in the coal mining industry. The Kidd Jones Family Tree on Ancestry.com indicates that Jesse had six children with Edith. Their mother died in 1935, and Jesse subsequently married Gladys Mae Blake McSurley. Mack's siblings, children of Edith and Jesse (according to her Find A Grave Memorial, No. 36039282), included sisters Learline, Bonnie, Maxine, and Juanita, and brother Frank. With spouse Gladys, Jesse continued to increase the size of his family. Mack's half siblings included sisters Drema, Ruby, Rosie, and Charlotte and brothers James, Jerry, Dan and Jack.
| Little could be found regarding the early life of Mack Kidd. On July 20, 1942, Mack registered for the draft, as was required. A note on his draft card states: "Failed to register because he was out in the country and didn't know about the registration. Didn't have a [photo?] or take any papers." His draft registration notes that he is employed at Stone Coal Company in Peytona, Boone County. The following year, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army at Huntington, West Virginia on September 23, he indicated he had completed grammar school and was employed in "unskilled occupation in extraction of minerals," that is, most likely, coal mining; he listed his residence as Johnson, Kentucky. On September 4, 1942, he had married Gwendlene Jackson, with whom he had two children, Sonja Kidd Jackson and Ronald Gene Kidd.
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 Reverse of Pvt. Kidd's draft card. National Archives and Records Administration |
According to the posting for Private Mack Kidd on Find A Grave (Memorial No. 56783520), citing information from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency on February 14, 2025: "In the summer of 1944, Kidd was assigned to Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional). After arriving at the recently captured airfield in Myitkyina, Burma, Kidd's battalion was advancing south from the villages of Mankrin and Radhapur against heavily fortified Japanese positions north of Myitkyina. Kidd was reported to have been killed during the battle and was declared non-recoverable in August 1950."
Pvt. Kidd's military service is summarized in a July 24, 2025, Charleston Gazette-Mail article:
Soon after entering the Army, Kidd volunteered to join the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), informally known as Merrill's Marauders, a volunteer-only special-operations light infantry unit led by Gen. Frank Merrill that specialized in surprise attacks behind Japanese lines.Kidd was part of a 2,600-man replacement force that arrived in Myitkyina in June 1944 to augment the beleaguered regiment, which had suffered devastating losses from combat, disease and injuries after capturing a Japanese airfield near that city.
After waiting for monsoon rains to subside, on July 12, 1944, the unit launched a major attack against newly reinforced Japanese forces, with air support from U.S. fighters and bombers. Unfortunately, poor communications between air and ground forces led to the American bombers dropping nearly half of their payloads on positions occupied by U.S. forces.
It was on that day that Kidd, then 20 years old, was reported as killed in action…. The remains of U.S. servicemen killed in that battle, including those who were not identified, were buried in at least eight temporary cemeteries before being consolidated at a U.S. military cemetery in Kalaikunda, India. The remains were exhumed in 1947, and those that remained unidentified were sent to the National Cemetery of the Pacific, in Hawaii, where they were interred as "unknowns," according to the DPAA.
In 2018, the DPAA began exhuming remains in the Hawaiian cemetery believed to belong to soldiers who died in the Battle of Myitkyina. In 2021, one set of those unknown remains was sent to the DPAA laboratory for further study.
On February 14 of this year [2025], scientists at the laboratory concluded that the remains belonged to Kidd, based on the totality of circumstantial evidence and the results of a mitochondrial DNA analysis. (Rick Steelhammer, "Kanawha GI Killed in WWII Burma Back in US for Burial," Charleston Gazette-Mail, 24 July 2025.)
In 1962, a film was made about Merrill's Marauders, but if one chooses to learn more of the official story of this highly decorated unit, a good selection is the account provided by the Army Center of Military History. Originally published in 1945 and re-issued in 1989, it contains not only the narrative of the 5307th, but also photos, maps, and other images. (Merrill's Marauders: February-May 1944 [CMH Pub 100-4] [Washington, DC: Army Center of Military History, 1945 (reprinted 1989)]), available online.
The news from the DPAA enabled the Kidd family to finally have closure after awaiting news of the identification of his remains for more than 80 years. Over the years, his immediate family dispersed; Gwendlene remarried, taking the surname Peters. Son Ronald moved to Swainsboro, Georgia, and died in 2023. Mack's daughter Sonja Kidd Jackson moved to Danville, Alabama, where she died in 2021. But it was with his daughter that Mack would find his final resting place. His funeral service was held July 26, 2025, and he was laid to rest with full military honors at Friendship Cemetery in Danville. According to the HonorStates.org website, Pvt. Kidd received the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.
While members of his generation of the Kidd family have passed on, as well as his son and daughter, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and members of Mack's large extended family can now honor his legacy.
Article prepared by Patricia Richards McClure
August 2025
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.
