Branch of Service
U.S. Marine Corps
Hometown
Washington, Indiana
Honored By
Orville L. Kline
Rank: Corporal. On January 14, 1942, he was inducted into the United States Marine Corps at Louisville, Kentucky. His boot camp training took place with the 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 Rifle Team Leader with the Second Marine Division in the Central Pacific Theater of Operations, assigned to Delta Company, First Battalion and Eighteenth Marine Engineers. 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. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.