World War II Honoree

William David Ball, Jr.

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Hollywood, California

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Sergeant. On January 15, 1942, he entered the United States Marine Corps from California, receiving his Boot Camp Training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego. Later he completed his Marine Combat Training at Camp Pendleton, California. Served in Company-B as a Rifleman, First Battalion, Second Marine Regiment, and 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 forces in the Battle of Tarawa, on the Island of Betio, located on the Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands Code Name: Operation Galvanic. Killed in action Saturday, November 20, 1943 on the first day of the invasion and buried in a temporary battlefield cemetery. At the conclusion of the Battle, all remains were moved to the Lone Palm cemetery. After the cessation of hostilities with Japan, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company, Quartermaster Corps conducted recovery operations from the Lone Palm Cemetery. The remains were transferred to a laboratory at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii for identification, and the unidentifiable were laid to rest as unknowns in Punchbowl. In October of 2016, the Defense Prisoners of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency disinterred the Tarawa Unknowns from Punchbowl and sent the remains to their laboratory for analysis, where he was identified July 26, 2017. The remains of this Marine were interred with Military Honors at the Riverside National Cemetery November 21, 2017 in Riverside, California. This Marine, an American Patriot awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, who so gallantly gave his life for his country.