Myron B. Carstensen

Myron B. Carstensen was born on December 26, 1919 in Grand Coulee, Washington to Henry B. Carstensen and Elizabeth Blinn Carstensen. Henry was a farmer originally from Germany who settled his family in the wheat-growing environs of Lincoln County, Washington.  He would become well-known in his role as a master in the Washington State Grange. The younger Carstensen graduated from Almira High School in Lincoln County. 

Carstensen attended Washington State College (WSC) from 1938 through 1940 before transferring to Gonzaga University.  While at WSC, he was a resident of Stimson Hall and a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.  Returning to WSC in 1942, Carstensen was elected Tribune of Sigma Chi in 1943. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science on May 24, 1943. 

Carstensen registered for the draft on July 1, 1941. Following his graduation from WSC in 1943 he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps as a Private, First Class. Along with WSC alumni Grant Robert Gaines, Carstensen was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on November 3, 1943 after completing basic trainining at Quantico, Virginia. Following completion of his basic training, he graduated with the 40th reserve officers' class from Quantico, Virginia and was shipped overseas with the 2nd Armored Amphibious Battalion. Carstensen was in the first assault wave against the fortified beaches of Saipan, in the Northern Mariana Islands chain, on June 15, 1944. His tank was hit by enemy fire while he was still 1200 feet out on the reef, killing him. 

Carstensen was buried at sea on June 16, 1944. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, and is memorialized at the Tablets of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl) in Honolulu, Hawaii.