Where They Came From

Where They Came From:
Mapping the Men of Company L, 22nd Marines, Sixth Marine Division

By Dr. John R. Legg

This page introduces a digital public history project called Where They Came From: Mapping the Men of Company L, 22nd Marines, Sixth Marine Division. The project began with my grandfather’s service in the Battle of Okinawa, where he fought with Company L in one of the final and deadliest campaigns of World War II. For reference, read my essay that I penned for the Sixth Marine Division Veteran's Organization. 

I wanted to know more about the men who served beside him.

The Marine Corps roll call records name more than 250 men in Company L, but those records leave much of their lives out of view. They often tell us rank, section, and casualty status, but they rarely explain where these men came from, what communities shaped them, or what happened to them after the war. This map works against that silence. Each point marks a hometown and begins the process of turning a military roster back into a set of human stories.

The map also shows the national reach of one Marine company. Company L drew men from small towns, large cities, farms, industrial neighborhoods, and coastal communities across the United States. Seeing these places together helps us understand the war through geography as well as memory. The men who landed on Okinawa did not come from nowhere. They carried local histories with them into the Pacific.

This project remains a work in progress. I am still verifying names, refining hometown data, adding coordinates, and researching individual lives after the war. Some points on the map already reflect city-level matches, while others use broader state-level placeholders until I can confirm more precise locations. Over time, I hope this project will connect wartime service to postwar movement, family memory, and the longer lives these men lived beyond the battlefield.