World War II Honoree

Joseph Baraga

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Channing, Michigan

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Sergeant. He was inducted into the United States Marine Corps January 3, 1939 from California and completed his basic training with the First Recruit Battalion Training Regiment; Marine Corps Base in San Diego, California. Upon his graduation from Boot Camp, he was transferred to Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California for his combat training. After the completion of his infantry training, he was selected to attend Sea School at San Diego. Served aboard the USS Arizona Battleship, BB-39 assigned to a Marine Detachment and based at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii. On Sunday Morning, December 7, 1941 the Emperor of Japan’s Naval Aviators launched a devastating, surprise attack on the U.S. Naval Base, and other military installations on Oahu. The Arizona moored on Ford Island along with her shipmates came under attack, and she was mortally wounded by an armor piercing bomb that ignited the ship’s forward ammunition magazine. The Battle of Pearl Harbor took his life on the day of the attack. His name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at the Honolulu National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, ‘Punchbowl’ Hawaii. In his Memory and Honor, a cenotaph memorial has been placed at the Channing Cemetery in Channing, Michigan. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.