World War II Honoree

Joseph Ronald Bingham

Branch of Service

U.S. Navy

Hometown

Rupert, Idaho

Honored By

Diana, Deb, Mike, Sheri

Relationship

Children

He joined the Navy as a Seaman 2nd Class (due to extraordinarily high testing scores) March 25, 1945 at age 17, immediately after graduation. He was sent to the Naval Air Training Center in Memphis, Tennessee then to Naval Air Technical Training Center in Norman, Oklahoma as a Mechanic, Turret Gunner on Torpedo Bomber Fighters, as he was also a sharpshooter. At the end of this training while he was waiting in a Transfer Unit to go overseas, the United States dropped the Bomb and WWII ended. He was given a choice of retraining or going overseas, so he chose to go to Great Lakes Naval Center, Illinois and learned Navy Payroll and discharging protocol. A short time later he was sent to Bremerton, Washington and then on to Swan Island, Headquarters, 19th Fleet, Portland, Oregon and finished his service of the duration and 6 months. He was Honorably Discharged as a Petty Officer 3rd Class on August 2, 1946.