When the war broke out and it became clear that the 7th Marines would soon be sent to fight the Japanese, PFC Wehr took a last trip to Goldsboro. He asked Hettie to marry him; to nobody’s surprise, she accepted. Within weeks, Wehr was headed for the Pacific, leaving Hettie with a set of his dog tags, his St. Christopher medal, and a promise to return. In January 1942 Wehr transferred from Company D (the battalion heavy weapons company) to the headquarters unit. His exact duties there are unknown, but he may have been assigned as a runner to one of the most feared and respected battalion commanders in the entire Marine Corps. The young Marine’s first foreign stop of the war was in American Samoa, where his regiment completed its preparations for eventual deployment to Guadalcanal. He landed on the already infamous island on September 18, 1942, and spent his first days on the island trying to keep up with the energetic and fearless Puller. On September 23, 1942, 1st Battalion of the 7th Marines left the friendly perimeter to explore a trail leading to the head of the Matanikau River. It was suspected that the Japanese were using this route to transport supplies and reinforcements; the Marines would locate a handy spot for a semi-permanent position, establish a perimeter, and wait for the First Raider Battalion to come and take over. Puller, selected because the brass figured he was the only commander capable of motivating his men sufficiently to accomplish this grueling mission, set out with only his headquarters personnel and his three rifle companies. Late on the afternoon of the 24th, the lead patrol of Company A killed two Japanese soldiers who were quietly engaged in cooking their evening rice. Puller heard the sound of the shots and hurried forward, with Wehr tagging along behind. As the major questioned his scouts and sampled a spoonful of rice, a hidden Japanese machine gun opened up on the group. Puller managed to escape, but as one account reads, “His runner and several other men were not so lucky” and fell with the first burst of gunfire. PFC Richard Wehr died of his wounds and was buried in a temporary grave the following day. The location was lost after the war and his remains were never brought home. Although Hettie Leary eventually married and raised a family of her own, she kept the mementos of her first love for the rest of her life. After she passed away in 2010, Richard Wehr’s dog tags and medallion were returned to his family.