World War II Honoree

Andrew Anthony Pinko

Branch of Service

U.S. Navy

Hometown

Johnson City, New York

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Electrician’s Mate Third Class. Inducted into the United States Navy January 8, 1940 at Albany, New York, with recruit training at the U.S. Naval Training Station Newport, Rhode Island. Upon his graduation from boot camp and electrical training, he was transferred to the USS West Virginia Battleship, BB-48 for duty, responsible for maintaining the electrical system and repairing equipment, and based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaiian Islands. 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 West Virginia along with her shipmates was moored on Ford Island came under attack and sustained multiple torpedo hits, and she capsized. The Battle-of-Pearl Harbor took his life during the ensuing attack, and interred in the Oahu Nuuanu Cemetery, Territory of Hawaii. In the post-war era, his family requested that he be buried with Military Honors at Honolulu Memorial Cemetery Location: Honolulu, Hawaii, with interment June 14, 1949. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his Heroism and ultimate sacrifice.