IRELAND, ELDEN D.

Elden D. “Dutch” Ireland died Monday [January 19, 1998] at UNC Hospitals after a lengthy illness. He was 78.

A native of Swarts Creek, Mich., he attended Michigan State University and entered the U.S. Marine Corps in 1940. He served in the Marine First Raider Battalion, known as “Edson’s Raiders,” during World War II and participated in the famous battle of “Bloody Ridge” at Henderson Air Field in Guadalcanal which turned the tide of the war in the Pacific. He was decorated for his service.

After the war, he founded a construction firm in Flint, Mich. In the late 1950s, he moved to California and became a landscaper and later, a postal carrier. He retired in 1982 and in 1997 he moved to Chapel Hill.

He is survived by his wife, Geraldine; his daughter, Carolyn; two sons, Gregg and Daniel; two sisters, Marlene and Ethel; and eight grandchildren.

The family will receive friends from 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday at Walker’s Funeral Home, Chapel Hill. A funeral service will be conducted at 10 a.m. Monday, Jan 26, at the Salisbury National Cemetery.