World War II Honoree

John Habak

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Wheeling, West Virginia

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private First Class. On April 22, 1943, he entered the United States Marine Corps from West Virginia, 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-D as a Rifleman, First Battalion, Twenty-Eighth Marine Regiment, and a subordinate unit of the Fifth Marine ‘the Spearhead/Fighting Fifth’ 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 Thursday, March 1, 1945 and buried in the Fifth Marine Division battlefield cemetery on Iwo. After the cessation of hostilities with Japan, his family requested that his remains be interred in the Honolulu National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, ‘Punchbowl’ Hawaii. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.