World War II Honoree

Elmer Edwin Drefahl

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Corporal. He was inducted into the United States Marine Corps May 22, 1940 at Chicago, Illinois and completed his basic training, with the Fourth 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 Oklahoma Battleship, BB-37 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 Oklahoma moored on Ford Island along with her shipmates came under attack, and she sustained multiple torpedo strikes, which caused the warship to capsize. 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. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.