World War II Honoree

Edward D. Barefoot

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Kinston, North Carolina

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private 1st Class. Inducted into the United States Marine Corps August 20, 1942 and received his Basic Combat Infantry Training at the Marine Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina. Served in the Pacific Theater of Operations and experienced combat with Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, a subordinate unit of the Second Marine ‘the Silent Second’ Division. He participated in the amphibious assault on the Island of Saipan, Mariana Islands Campaign. Killed in Action Thursday, June 15, 1944 on the first day of the invasion and buried in the Second Marine Division Battlefield Cemetery on Saipan. After the cessation of hostilities with Japan, his remains were transferred to Honolulu with interment in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, ‘Punchbowl’ Hawaii on February 18, 1949. His name has been etched on one of the Twenty-Six granite plates ‘Remembrance of the Brave’ located in the Court of Honor at the American Memorial on Saipan. Decoration: This Marine, an American Patriot, awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, who so gallantly gave his life for his country.