World War II Honoree

Chester Yurek

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Tonawanda, New York

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private First Class. He was inducted into the United States Marine Corps December 14, 1942 at Buffalo, New York, with recruit training at the Marine Barracks Parris Island, South Carolina, and infantry training at Camp Geiger, North Carolina. He served as a Rifleman, assigned to Charlie Battery, Weapons Company, Twenty-Eight Marines and an element of the Fifth Marine Division. His division participated in the amphibious assault, and occupation of Iwo Jima Island Location: Western Pacific Theater of Operations. On Wednesday, February 21, 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 Honolulu Memorial Cemetery Location: Honolulu, Hawaii, with interment February 2, 1949. In His Memory and Honor, this American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his Heroism and ultimate sacrifice.