World War II Honoree

Joseph J. A'hearn

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Boston, Massachusetts

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private. On June 16, 1944, he entered the United States Marine Corps from Massachusetts, receiving his Boot Camp Training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina. Later he completed his Marine Combat Training at Camp Geiger, North Carolina. Served in Company-F as a Rifleman, Second Battalion, Twenty-Fifth Marine Regiment, a subordinate unit of the Fourth Marine ‘the Fighting Fourth’ Division in the Western Pacific Theater of Operations. His division participated in the amphibious assault against the Imperial Japanese Army and Naval forces on the Volcanic Island of Iwo Jima (Battle Dates: February 19-March 26, 1945) Code Name: Operation Detachment. Killed in Action Saturday, February 27, 1945 and buried in the Fourth Marine Division battlefield cemetery on Iwo. After the cessation of hostilities with Japan, his family received his remains for burial, with interment at the Cambridge Veterans Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This Marine, an American Patriot awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, who so gallantly gave his life for his country.