World War II Honoree

James Calvin Hiter

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Clinton, Illinois

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private First Class. He was inducted into the United States Marine Corps March 23, 1943 at Chicago, Illinois. 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 Browning Automatic Rifleman ‘BAR’ with the Second Marine Division in the Northwestern Pacific Theater of Operations, assigned to Foxtrot Company, Second Battalion and Eighth Marine Regiment. His division participated in the amphibious assault on the island of Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands. Killed in action Thursday, June 15, 1944 on the first day of the invasion, 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 received his remains for burial, with interment at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Clinton, Illinois. This American Patriot was awarded posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.