A grandmother received the message, "Regret to inform you" announcing the death of her grandson at Tarawa.

Myrl Melvin Sauers was born on December 2, 1923, in Santa Cruz, California. Information regarding his parents is unavailable. Mrs. Hattie Fightmaster, Sauer's grandmother, raised him and his brother Dale in her Santa Cruz home. Melvin (the name he preferred) attended local elementary schools and Chaminade High School until he transferred to Santa Cruz High School in his junior year. In high school Melvin took college preparatory courses, majored in mathematics and played on the high school's basketball and football teams. He left high school in the spring of 1941.

In January 1942 Melvin Sauers joined the US Marine Corps. After completing basic and school-of-infantry training at Camp Pendleton, California, in April 1943, he was designated as a "gunner." Private Sauers was assigned to the 2nd Marine Division as it was wrapping up the Guadalcanal Campaign and preparing for the invasion of Tarawa in the South Pacific.

“The Battle of Tarawa was a battle in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, largely fought from November 20-23, 1943. It was the second time the United States was on the offensive (the Battle of Guadalcanal had been the first), and the first offensive in the critical central Pacific region. It was also the first time in the war that the United States faced serious Japanese opposition to a US amphibious landing. Previous landings met little or no initial resistance; Tarawa was to be different. The 4,500 Japanese defenders were well-supplied and well-prepared; they fought almost to the last man, exacting a heavy toll on the American Marines.”

Private First Class Myrl Melvin Sauers was one of those marines who paid the heavy toll at Tarawa. On November 20, 1943, Mel Sauers was killed in action. His body was never recovered; however, he is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at Honolulu Memorial Cemetery. His awards include the Purple Heart.

(ABMC, SCHSC Pg. 17, SCR January 28, 1944 -1, WIKI, Tarawa, SCSn March 10,1944)