World War II Honoree
Killed In Action
Rayon D. Birdsell
Branch of Service
U.S. Navy
Hometown
Holcomb, Missouri
Honored By
Orville L. Kline
Rank: Fireman Second Class. Inducted into the United States Navy January 21, 1941 at Saint Louis, Missouri and completed recruit training at the U.S. Naval Training Station Great Lakes, Illinois. Upon his graduation from boot camp, he was transferred to the USS Arizona Battleship, BB-39 for duty, and based at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii. 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 Arizona moored on Ford Island along with her shipmates came under attack, and she was sunk by an armor piercing bomb, which ignited the forward ammunition magazine. Reported missing in action or entombed in the USS Arizona. In remembrance of the brave, his name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at Honolulu Memorial Location: Honolulu, Hawaii. In his Memory and Honor, a cenotaph memorial has been placed at the Greene County Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Paragould, Arkansas. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his Heroism and ultimate sacrifice.