World War II Honoree

Fred Evert Freet

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Marion, Indiana

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private. He was inducted into the United States Marine Corps September 8, 1942 from Indiana. His boot camp training took place with Eleventh Recruit Battalion Training Regiment; Marine Corps Base in San Diego, California. Later he completed his Marine Combat Training at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California. Served as a Rifleman with the Second Marine Division in the Central Pacific Theater of Operations, assigned to Foxtrot Company, Second Battalion and Eighth Marine Regiment. His division participated in the amphibious assault against the Imperial Japanese forces in the Battle of Tarawa. The combat engagement took place on the Island of Betio, located on the Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands Code Name: Operation Galvanic. Reported missing in action, lost at sea Saturday, November 20, 1943 on the first day of the invasion. His name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at the Honolulu National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific ‘Punchbowl’ Hawaii. In June of 2015 the history flight, a private organization, discovered a collective burial grave on Betio Island. The remains were transferred to the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency Honolulu’s laboratory for analysis, where he was identified. The family of this Marine received his remains for burial. He was laid to rest with Military Honors, April 18, 2019 at the Marion National Cemetery in Marion, Indiana. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.