World War II Honoree

Channing R. Whitaker

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Granger, Iowa

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private. He was inducted into the United States Marine Corps December 14, 1942 at Des Moines, Iowa, with recruit training assigned to the Ninth 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 combat training. Served as a Rifleman with the Second Marine Division in the Central Pacific Theater of Operations, assigned to Alpha Company, First Battalion and Sixth Marine Regiment. His division participated in the amphibious assault against the Imperial Japanese forces in the Battle of Tarawa. The combat engagement took place on the Island of Betio, located on the Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands Code Name: Operation Galvanic. Reported missing in action, lost at sea Monday, November 22, 1943 on the third day of the invasion. In remembrance of the brave, his name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at the Honolulu National Memorial cemetery of the Pacific ‘Punchbowl’ Hawaii. In June of 2015 the history flight, a private organization, discovered a collective burial grave on Betio Island. The remains were transferred to the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency laboratory in Honolulu, Hawaii where he was identified. The family of the Marine received his remains for burial. He was laid to rest with Military Honors, November 22, 2019 at the Glendale Cemetery in Des Moines, Iowa. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.