World War II Honoree

Alexander L. Piasecki

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Acme, Wyoming

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Corporal. He was inducted into the United States Marine Corps September 23, 1939 at Denver, Colorado, with recruit training assigned to 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 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 their well-planned attack on the U.S. Fleet at Pearl Harbor 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. Reported missing in action, lost at sea on the day of the attack. 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. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.