World War II Honoree

Benjamin Hadden 'Ben' Gore

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Hopkinsville, Tennessee

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private First Class. On January 11, 1943, he entered the United States Marine Corps from Kentucky, receiving his Marine Combat Training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island, South Carolina. Served with a Special Weapons Group, Second Defense Battalion, 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 forces in the Battle of Tarawa, on the Island of Betio, located on the Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands (Battle Dates: November 20–November 23, 1943) Code Name: Operation Galvanic. Reported missing in action Thursday, November 25, 1943 during a mopping-up operation, after all organized resistance had ceased. 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 June of 2015 the history flight, a private organization, discovered a collective 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 Riverside Cemetery November 14, 2016 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. 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 and the WWII Victory Medal. This Marine, an American Patriot awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, who so gallantly gave his life for his country.