World War II Honoree

Robert Arnold Bailey

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Springfield, Illinois

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private First Class. He was inducted into the United States Marine Corps November 28, 1940 at San Francisco, California, with recruit training assigned to the Sixth 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 Northwestern Pacific Theater of Operations, assigned to Kilo Company, Third Battalion and Eighth 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 Sunday, June 18, 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, February 1, 1949 in the 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.