World War II Honoree

Gilbert Henry Whisler

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Bloomfield, Iowa

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private First Class. He was inducted into the United States Marine Corps September 11, 1940 at Des Moines, Iowa, with recruit training assigned to the Third 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. After the completion of infantry training, he was selected to attend Sea School at San Diego. Following Sea School training, he was transferred to the USS Arizona Battleship, BB-30 for duty 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, and interred in the Oahu Nuuanu Cemetery, Territory of Hawaii. After the cessation of hostilities with Japan, the family of this Marine requested that his remains be buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific ‘Punchbowl’ Hawaii, with interment January 25, 1949. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.