World War II Honoree

John Gordon Folsom

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Taylors Falls, Minnesota

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Corporal. Inducted into the United States Marine Corps May 7, 1941 at Colorado Springs, Colorado and traveled to the Marine Corps Base in San Diego, California for recruit training. Upon his graduation from Boot Camp, he was transferred to Camp Pendleton Oceanside, California for combat training. He served as a member of an Assault Squad, assigned to Fox Company, Second Battalion, Twenty-Sixth Marine Regiment, a subordinate unit of the Fifth Marine Division. His division participated in the amphibious assault, and occupation of Iwo Jima Island Location: Western Pacific Theater of Operations. Friday, March 3, 1945 he was killed in action, during offensive operations against the Imperial Japanese Armed forces. Personnel from a Graves Registration Company buried him in the Fifth Marine Division Iwo battlefield cemetery. In the post-war era, this Marines’ family requested that he be buried with Military Honors at the Kahbakong Cemetery in Taylors Falls, Minnesota. In his Memory and Honor, this American Patriot received the following decorations posthumously: Navy Cross and the Purple Heart. The Navy Cross was awarded for his distinguished intrepid actions, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty at the cost of his life, and the Purple Heart, for his Heroism and ultimate sacrifice.