World War II Honoree

La Counte Lee Wray

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Sunbury, Pennsylvania

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Corporal. He was inducted into the United States Marine Corps January 13, 1942 from Pennsylvania. His boot camp training took place with the Eleventh 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 Rifle Team Leader with the Fourth Marine Division in the Northwestern Pacific Theater of Operations, assigned to Easy Company, Second Battalion and Twenty-Fifth Marine Regiment. His division participated in the amphibious assault on the island of Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands (Battle Dates: June 15-July 9, 1944). Killed in action Thursday July 6, 1944 during combat operations against the Imperial Japanese forces, and buried in the U.S. armed forces battlefield cemetery on Saipan. His name has been etched on one of the Twenty-Sixth granite plates, located in the court of Honor, American Memorial on Saipan. 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 March 18, 1949 in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, ‘Punchbowl’ Hawaii. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart with a Gold Star posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.