Osborne family remembers US Marine who didn't return home
U.S. Marine Floyd Osborne photograph. (Submitted photos)
By MARVIN OSBORNE
FORT HALL — Other than some members of the Osborne family, not many in the community may be aware PFC Floyd Osborne, a U.S. Marine, didn’t return back home.
PFC (Private First Class) Floyd Osborne was sent to the Gilbert Islands where he met his fate. It was reported he was wounded in action by a sniper in combat and died later in a medical hospital in Guam. The battle was in 1943 in the Gilbert Islands. Floyd was one of the Marines crossing at low tide from the landing craft. He was critically wounded before reaching the island. He is buried in Guam.
When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941 all four Osborne brothers Floyd, Malden, Clyde and Enos entered the service except the youngest James. Malden was in the Army, Clyde into the Navy, Enos was Army Airborne and Floyd in the Marines.
After the Gilbert Island Campaign was over, Jessie Sequints Osborne received a letter from the U.S. Marine Corp and Secretary of the Navy informing Jessie that her son was killed in battle in the Gilbert Islands.
Private First Class Floyd Osborne Purple Heart certificate.
On behalf of her mother, Lou Ida Osborne Wadsworth, the oldest sister, read to her mother the letter that her son was killed in action. Floyd Osborne received a Purple Heart for the wound that resulted in his death on January 23, 1943. Jessie Sequints-Osborne put the citations of her sons on the window sill which was noticed by family members and friends.
In the past Minerva and Iva Lee Osborne tried to bring the remains of Floyd back to the Fort Hall Reservation but the military claimed it could not be done.
James Osborne Sr. and Jessie Sequints Osborne
Floyd was born August 3, 1925 and he was one of 12 children born to James and Jessie Sequints Osborne. There were four sisters: Lou Ida, Flora, Minerva and Iva Lee Osborne, along with eight brothers: Malden, Franklin, Orrin, Floyd, Enos, Clyde, James and a half-brother Dwight Osborne.
Cattle and horses were a way of life with the Osborne family. It was an annual event in spring and fall where horse roundups and cattle roundups were an important part of their lives. Cattle would be moved to the mountains for summer grazing. The boys would help in chasing wild horses, mainly wild mustangs alongside their uncles and relatives back in the old days.
Life was difficult back in those days, no electricity, no running water, no inside plumbing, some of us knew what that was like growing up. A one room log cabin was moved from the original site where Floyd, his sisters and brothers grew up on the Fort Hall Bottoms.
It’s the spirit they live and honor that keeps them going. It’s the reason the Osborne family and friends put on the Veteran’s breakfast since the mid 70’s honoring all veterans of all war campaigns and especially to honor our fathers, sisters, brothers, sons, daughters, cousins and uncles. It’s been a tradition and a most deserving one.
