War Hero Poindexter Dies at 82

Retired Col. Arthur Poindexter, a highly decorated Marine cited for gallantry at Wake Island in World War II and for meritorious service in Korea, died Wednesday of congestive heart failure at his home in Huntington Beach. He was 82.

Family members and friends remembered him Friday as a patriotic, humble man who considered his ordeals in combat and 44 months in a prisoner-of-war camp as nothing more than his duty.

“He was intense and passionate. He was totally masculine and honest, very intelligent, very caring and loyal,” said his widow, Patricia Foy Poindexter. “To the very last, he was a fighter. . . . When I first heard he wasn’t going to live very long, I said, ‘They don’t know him.’ ”

Retired Marine Col. William E. Barber, an Irvine resident who received the Medal of Honor, knew Poindexter for more than 40 years, having served with him in San Diego in the 1950s.

“He was a fine man who loved his country,” Barber said. “He was a man of impeccable character. He believed in duty, and he put service above self.”

Arthur Andrews Poindexter was born Feb. 25, 1917, in Madison, Wis. He joined the Marine Corps at age 19.

In 1941, the second lieutenant was assigned to Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean, where 1,200 civilians were building a Navy air base. The day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Wake Island came under siege. Outmanned and overpowered, the U.S. forces battled for 16 days, on the last day wading into the surf to lob hand grenades at approaching Japanese landing craft. On Christmas Day, they finally surrendered.

Poindexter was captured and sent to a work camp in China, where he was held in bleak conditions until the end of the war. He remained in the Corps, retiring in 1963 after 26 years of service.

The U.S. soldiers’ courageous defense of Wake Island, which was compared to the Alamo, captivated the American public and was portrayed in a 1942 movie.

With his characteristic humility, Poindexter claimed no glory for himself. In an interview with The Times in 1985, he said: “We were doing the job that Marines have been called on to do for 200 years. It makes you wince a little to be called a hero, but it’s nice to know that we weren’t lacking in the right stuff.”

After leaving the military, Poindexter earned master’s and doctoral degrees and taught international relations at Cal State Long Beach for 16 years.

He was active in veterans groups and, after retiring from teaching, in political and charitable organizations in Orange County, among them the Orange County Transportation Authority, the American Red Cross, Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach and the Republican Party.

He wrote and co-wrote several books and wrote articles published in the California Social Science Quarterly, American History Illustrated, the Military Historical Review and Leatherneck Magazine.

Poindexter is survived by his wife; daughters Mary Andrews Poindexter of Virginia Beach, Va., and Martha Martin Poindexter of Norfolk, Va.; a brother and sister-in-law, Martin and Margaret Poindexter of Fargo, N.D.; and three stepchildren.

A memorial service will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. Monday at Huntington Landmark, the senior community where Poindexter lived. He will be buried with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.