World War II Honoree

Earl Delbert Wallen

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Green Bay, Wisconsin

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private First Class. Inducted into the United States Marine Corps November 30, 1939 at Chicago, Illinois, with recruit training assigned to the Fourth Recruit Battalion Training Regiment; Marine Corps Base San Diego, California. Upon his graduation from Boot Camp, he was selected for Sea Duty AKA: Soldiers of the Sea; also assigned to a Maine Detachment in San Diego. Following Sea School training, he was transferred to the USS California Battleship, BB-44 for duty, and based at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii. On Sunday Morning, December 7, 1941 the Emperor of Japan and his Naval Aviators launched their well-planned attack on the U.S. Fleet at Pearl Harbor and other military installations on Oahu. The California moored on Ford Island along with her shipmates came under attack, and damaged by a pair of torpedoes and a bomb. A fire disabled the ship's electrical system, preventing the pumps from being used to keep the ship afloat and eventually sank. The Battle of Pearl Harbor took his life during the attack, and interred in the Oahu Nuuanu Cemetery, Territory of Hawaii. Succeeding hostilities with Japan, the family of this Marine requested that he be buried with Military Honors at Honolulu Memorial Cemetery Location: Honolulu, Hawaii, with interment February 3, 1949. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.