World War II Honoree

Arthur O. Dahlen

Branch of Service

U.S. Navy

Hometown

Kindred, North Dakota

Honored By

Family

On January 11, 1943, he entered into service with the North Dakota Naval Reserve. He completed basic training at Farragut Naval Training Station in Idaho and was trained as a Pharmacist's Mate (Hospital Corpsman). On November 21, 1943 (his 19th birthday), he sailed out of San Francisco Bay to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In January they sailed from Hawaii as part of the American invasion of the Marshall Islands. On February 2, 1944, he took part in the battle of Kwajalein Atoll, landing on Roi-Namur Island. He helped set up the hospital, The Naval Air Base 825th Dispensary. On the evening of February 12, 1944, they were bombed by the Japanese and stored fuel and ordnance burned well into the next day. he and several other corpsmen took shelter in a bomb crater. He stayed on that island for the remainder of the war. Base 825 served as base for a marine fighter unit and he served as Corpsman providing basic health and sanitation. With the wars end in 1945, he sailed home on the USS Hollandia and was Honorably Discharged from the Navy on February 16, 1946.