World War II Honoree

Blair Nile Wildman

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Anmoore, West Virginia

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private First Class. He was inducted into the United States Marine Corps August 18, 1942 at Charleston, West Virginia, with recruit training assigned to the Fifth Recruit Battalion Training Regiment; Marine Corps Base at Parris Island, South Carolina. Upon his graduation from Boot Camp, he was transferred to Camp Geiger, North Carolina for combat training. Served as a Rifleman with the Fourth Marine Division in the Western Pacific Theater of Operations, assigned to Golf Company, Second Battalion and Twenty-Third Marine Regiment. His division participated in the amphibious assault on the island of Tinian (Battle Dates: July 24–August 3, 1944) Northern Mariana Islands Campaign. Killed in action July 24, 1944 during combat operations against the Imperial Japanese army forces, and buried in the U.S. armed forces battlefield cemetery on Tinian. 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 15, 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.