World War II Honoree

Lawrence E. Garrison

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Ryan, Oklahoma

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private First Class. On April 4, 1941, he entered the United States Marine Corps as an enlistee from Colorado, receiving his Marine Combat Training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, California. Served with Company-H as a Machine Gun Crewman, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, a subordinate unit of the 2nd Marine ‘The Silent Second’ Division in the Central Pacific Theater of Operations. His division participated in the amphibious assault against the Imperial Japanese army forces on Betio Island, Tarawa atoll in the battle of Tarawa, Gilbert Islands Code Name: Operation Galvanic. Reported missing in action Saturday, November 20, 1943 on the first day of the invasion, and in remembrance of the brave, his name is recorded in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at the Honolulu National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific ‘Punchbowl’ Hawaii. Experience combat in a previous operation: Battle of Guadalcanal. He received the following awards: Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, Navy Presidential Unit Citation with one star, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two stars, and the WWII Victory Medal. This Marine, an American Patriot, awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, who so gallantly gave his life for his country.