World War II Honoree
Killed in World War II
J. A. Hale, Jr.
Branch of Service
U.S. Navy
Hometown
Troup, Texas
Honored By
Orville L. Kline
Rank: Pharmacist’s Mate Third Class. On November 27, 1942, he entered the United States Navy from California, receiving his medical training at Camp Elliott, Marine Corps Base in San Diego, California. Served as a Combat Medic with Headquarters Company, First Battalion, Second Marine Regiment, a subordinate unit of the Second 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. Killed in Action Saturday, November 20, 1943 on the first day of the invasion, and buried in the Palm Cemetery on Betio Island. After the cessation of hostilities with Japan, his family requested that his remains be interred in the Honolulu Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific ‘Punchbowl’, Hawaii. This Naval Medical Corpsman, an American Patriot, so gallantly gave his life for his country.