World War II Honoree

Richard Peyton Ratcliffe

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Hardy, Kentucky

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private First Class. On September 23, 1942, he was inducted into the United States Marine Corps from Kentucky. His boot camp training took place with the Twelfth Recruit Battalion, Training Regiment; Marine Corps Base at Parris Island, South Carolina. Later he completed his Marine Combat Training at Camp Geiger, North Carolina. Served as a Rifleman with the Fourth Marine Division in the Western Pacific Theater of Operations, assigned to a Regimental Weapons Company, First Battalion and Twenty-Fourth Marine Regiment. His division participated in the amphibious assault against the Japanese Imperial Army forces on the island of Tinian (Battle Dates: July 24–August 1, 1944) Northern Mariana Islands Campaign. Killed in action Tuesday July 25, 1944 and buried in the U.S. armed forces battlefield cemetery on Tinian. After the cessation of hostilities with Japan, the family of this Marine requested that his remains be transferred to Honolulu. He was laid to rest in the 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.