It's been 65 years since Merlin Mosey, a Marine corporal from La Crosse, was killed by Japanese artillery fire during the World War II battle for the island of Saipan.

But Mosey, who had planned to become an auto mechanic, is remembered in the new book "The Wisconsin 3,800," about Wisconsin residents who died in World War II and are buried overseas or missing in action. Author Tom Mueller of Oak Creek wrote about the lives and deaths of more than 30 of them.

His younger brother, retired La Crosse Assistant Fire Chief Ray Mosey, is more than happy that Merlin has been brought back to life on the pages of Mueller's book.

"I'm very proud of him," Ray said last week as he displayed his brother's medals, photos, scrapbook, diary and newspaper clippings. "I've had the good life and he never had the chance. He was never able to marry and have children. It was kind of like he earned the right for me to enjoy life here."

One of the photos is a portrait of Merlin in his Marine uniform, with the girlfriend he met while in military training in California. Ray thinks Merlin planned to marry her. "She did correspond with us after he died," Ray said.

"It sure did" hit the family hard, Ray said of Merlin's death. "He was my hero. Our family was proud of him."

The two brothers were close. "He took me fishing all the time, behind Lutheran Hospital," along Swift Creek and the Mississippi River, Ray said.

Ray, who is 80 and was the youngest of four children, enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1946. He was only 15 when his brother died at age 23 in June 1944.

Ray also has the Purple Heart medal and the Bronze Star the family received after Merlin's death. Merlin had been told he would receive the Bronze Star for his actions on Namur Island in February 1944.

According to the citation that came with the medal, "Coolly and with complete disregard for his own life, Cpl. Mosey voluntarily exposed himself to intense hostile fire in order to reach the side of a wounded Marine and, in the face of continuous fire from the enemy, removed his injured comrade to a place of comparative safety."

"I'd love to know" the name of the Marine that Merlin rescued, Ray said, "and whether he survived."

Merlin was in charge of a machine gun squad that had landed on Saipan and came under heavy artillery and mortar fire, according to a letter the Mosey family received from a Marine captain. "Cpl. Mosey was hit in the first barrage, and although given immediate medical attention, he died in a few moments without ever regaining consciousness," said the letter from Capt. A. Arsenault.

Merlin was buried in the Fourth Marine Division Cemetery on Saipan. Later, his family had him reburied in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.

"I think it was because the family didn't want to go through the agony again," Ray said of his family's decision to rebury Merlin in the national cemetery in Hawaii, rather than bring his body back to La Crosse. "And it was an appropriate place," because Merlin had been killed in the Pacific Theater.

Ray has photos of Merlin's Saipan grave marker and his Hawaii grave marker. And he has visited Merlin's grave in Hawaii twice, most recently in 2008.

He has never been to Saipan, but added, "It's something I'd kind of like to do."

Ray retired in 1983 after 32 years with the La Crosse Fire Department. His wife, Charlotte, died in 2003 at age 71. The Moseys had three children.