World War II Honoree

George Bernard Murray

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Oceano, California

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private First Class. On February 22, 1943, he entered the United States Marine Corps from California, receiving his Marine combat training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, California. Served with Company-B as a Rifleman, 1st Battalion, 2nd 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. In 2010, a recovery team assigned to the Joint Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Command discovered a burial grave on Betio Island. The remains were transferred to the defense Prisoner of war/Missing in Action Accounting Agency in Hawaii where he was identified. The remains of this Marine were interred with Military Honors at the Arroyo Grand Cemetery August 18, 2017 in Arroyo Grande, California. He received the following Awards and Citation: Purple Heart Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, Navy Presidential Unit Citation, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with one Bronze Star and the WWII Victory Medal. This Marine, an American Patriot, awarded the Purple Heart Posthumously, who so gallantly gave his life for his country.