Felix P. Duda

United States marine corps 1942-1946

world war ii

corporal

guadalcanal

cape gloucester

peleliu

Felix Philip Duda was born on March 6, 1924, to Stanislaus Duda and Apolonia (Zajac) in Enfield, Connecticut. He was the third of seven children and grew up in the Thompsonville section of Enfield, Connecticut, and attended Enfield High School before going to work at the Bigelow-Sanford Carpet Company as an apprentice weaver.

Days after the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, like many young men, Felix enlisted to defend our great nation and soon departed for basic training at Parris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Beaufort, South Carolina, on January 10, 1942. Following boot camp and infantry training, Private Duda was assigned to the I Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. From August 1942 to February 1943, Private Duda was part of the Operation Watchtower, the Battle of Guadalcanal. He then participated in Operation Cartwheel in the Battle of Cape Gloucester on the Island of New Britain from December 1943 to January 1944, and his final campaign was Operation Stalemate II in the Battle of Peleliu from September to November 1944. Corporal Duda then returned to the United States for guard duty at the Navy Yard in New York City and Naval Training Station Great Lakes, Illinois, until his discharge from the Marine Corps on February 5, 1946.

Felix returned to Enfield and his job at the Bigelow-Sanford Carpet Factory and married the former Erma Courtney in 1951 and was very active in veterans’ organizations. He was also an active in the Local 2188, Textile Workers Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO until the factory closed in 1971. Felix then worked as a security guard at Johnson Memorial Hospital, eventually retiring and passing away on November 17, 2005, at the age of 81.