World War II Honoree

Richard Gordon Zurbrick

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Buffalo, New York

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private. He was inducted into the United States Marine Corps April 10, 1944 from New York. His boot camp training took place with the Second 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 Fifth Marine Division in the Western Pacific Theater of Operations, assigned to Baker Company, First Battalion and Twenty-Seventh Marine Regiment. His division participated in the amphibious assault on the Volcanic Island of Iwo Jima (Battle Dates: February 19-March 26, 1945) Code Name: Operation Detachment. Killed in Action Monday, February 19, 1945 during combat operations against the Imperial Japanese forces, and buried in the Fifth Marine Division battlefield cemetery on Iwo. After the cessation of hostilities with Japan, the family of this Marine received his remains for burial, with interment at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.