A hero’s body, lost and found at sea

“He represents ... a long history of military service and serving his country,” said Norman Bonnyman ’12, Sandy’s great-nephew and an ROTC cadet.

“His case in particular was just an inspiring example of leadership and what an officer should be,” he added.

Sandy, originally from Knoxville, Tenn., studied engineering before leaving the University in 1930 “most likely as a result of his failure to attain the grades required to enter the junior class at the time,” Mudd Library assistant project archivist Daniel Brennan said in an e-mail.

In his two years at the University, Sandy was a first-stringer on the football team in his sophomore year and a member of the Cap & Gown Club, and he also served on the Prom Committee.

Though he did not graduate, Sandy was the first in a long line of Bonnymans to attend the University. Norman’s father, Alexander Bonnyman ’78, was one of Sandy’s three nephews who went to the University. Alexander’s older brother, G. Gordon Bonnyman Jr. ’69, is a lawyer in Nashville, and his younger brother, Brian Bonnyman ’85, is a physician in Knoxville. Sandy’s brother and Alexander’s father, G. Gordon Bonnyman Sr. ’41, passed away in 2004.

“We had a lot of Princeton memorabilia,” said Frances Bonnyman Evans, Sandy’s eldest daughter.

“He was very gung ho for whatever he did and enthusiastic about Princeton,” added Evans, who received the Medal of Honor in her father’s name.

After leaving the University, Sandy went on to work in the coal-mining industry before moving to New Mexico to start a copper-mining business. When World War II broke out, Bonnyman was exempt from the draft because he was already 32 years old, a father of three and the owner of a strategic business. Nonetheless, he decided to enlist.

After fighting at Guadalcanal, where he received a battlefield commission for bravery, Sandy was killed leading an assault on a bomb-proof shelter at Tarawa. His attack forced the 150 Japanese defenders inside to flee and effectively broke the stalemate that had taken hold during the first two days of the battle. This led to a U.S. victory on the island, according to the official website of the Medal of Honor.

Prior to last month’s discovery, the remains of roughly 540 of the estimated 1,687 marines and sailors who perished at Tarawa were still missing. U.S. veterans groups History Flight and WFI Research Group raised $90,000 and used ground-penetrating radar and GPS technologies, along with military records, to locate the remains, according to the Houston Chronicle.

The remains have not yet been uncovered, however, because the U.S. Department of Defense is waiting until it examines the veterans groups’ findings before excavating the site. A recovery of the remains on the Tarawa atoll could potentially be the largest identification of war-dead in American history, the Chronicle reported.

Alexander said that though he never met “Uncle Sandy,” he knows the family is very proud of his legacy. “He was this heroic figure, but he was sort of larger than life,” he said.

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“I know that he was a perfect match for what he did [at Tarawa],” he added, noting that his uncle’s charisma, athleticism and experience with explosives in the mining industry made him well-suited for combat. “There was probably no one else on par that had the right set of traits and skills to do what he did.”

Though she was only 7 years old when her father left for the war, Evans said she remembers Sandy as “tall and handsome, very outgoing with lots of friends ... and I gather, somewhat impetuous.” She explained that his leadership role and impressive performance at Tarawa was a reflection of his adventurous nature. She noted that he took the initiative to lead the charge against the Japanese bunker, though he had not been ordered to do so.

“He was a reckless sort of person,” said Bonnyman Sr. in an interview for the Veteran’s Oral History Project at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in April 2000.

Bonnyman Sr., who had been in ROTC at Princeton and was an officer in the Army’s Merrill’s Marauders unit, was stationed in Burma when he got a letter informing him of his brother’s death in battle.

“It was a painful topic for my father. He did not discuss his brother very much until he was much older,” Alexander said.

Evans said she is relatively indifferent to the discovery of Sandy’s remains, noting that “65 years is a long time,” but she said she appreciates its significance for the U.S. military. “I’m sure [Sandy’s parents] would have been thrilled,” she added.

She also noted that the Marine Corps named a motor vessel “1st Lt. Alex Bonnyman” in honor of Sandy and that the Tennessee State Senate designated the bridge over the Tennessee River on the Pellissippi Parkway as the Lt. Alexander “Sandy” Bonnyman Memorial Bridge.

“He has been honored many times, which is always very thrilling for us,” Evans said.

Sandy’s legacy lives on not only in the many family members who followed him to Princeton, but also in the two memorials on campus that bear his name.

One is inside the Nassau Hall Memorial Room, where Sandy’s name is inscribed on the list honoring University casualties in World War II.

The second exists in the form of a bronze star that rests on the window ledge of his former dorm room, Blair Hall 54. His star is one of the many visible in campus dormitories, meant to commemorate those alumni who died in combat in World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.