Community News
14 names to remember this Memorial Day
World War II Veterans Memorial Monument, 3580 50th Street Court
Update: The below veteran biographies are now updated with expanded information here.
This Memorial Day, I’ll be reflecting on 14 special names.
Last week’s column focused on how Clara and Wyatt enjoy playing at Kenneth Leo Marvin Veterans Memorial Park, located at 3580 50th St Ct.
Inscribed on Gig Harbor’s World War II Veterans Memorial Monument are the names of Peninsula residents who died in accidents or battle while in service. The pillar was installed nearly eight decades ago at Gig Harbor’s former Union High School campus, as shown in this cool pic from May 30, 1945 in the Harbor History Museum’s digital archive.
At its original unveiling, a Peninsula Gateway reporter described a cloudy morning that gave way to a wash of sunlight as the monument was dedicated in a ceremony 78 years ago. The Gig Harbor Lions Club presented the statue, carved from Washington native granite, to the fallen veterans’ family members. Also present were folks from Fort Lewis, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, as well as “the high school band led by Prof. J.W. Alden.” The article describes the monument itself, saying it stood about six feet tall. Before listing any names, the reporter wrote:
“Upon this monument has been carved the names of our Peninsula boys who have thus far given their all to their country.”
Decades after it was first unveiled, city officials relocated the monument to Kenneth Leo Marvin Veterans Memorial Park at 3580 50th St. Court — where it still stands today.
The Names
Arnold Boers
Willard Chessman
Raymond Edwards
Lyle S. Jones
Kenneth Kirkendoll
Harold Mitts
John M. Swenson* (should say Swensen)
Sylvester Metzinger
Douglas Mortensen
Herman C. Niemann
Robert Niemann
Burton Allen Gustafson
Carl Pearson
George Nelson
Arnold Boers
The Seattle Star. (Feb. 3, 1945). Newspapers.com.
Hometown: Seattle (and possibly Rosedale, Gig Harbor).
Branch: U.S. Army Air Forces
Rank: Corporal
Died: Jan. 18, 1945
Cpl. Arnold Joseph Boers was born June 19, 1921 to Anna Henrica (Schoenmakers) Boers and Arnold Francis Boers. He died at age 23.
It’s unclear whether the corporal ever lived in the Gig Harbor area. However, his parents and five siblings did for a brief time in the 1930s and/or 1940s. The Boers family is listed as living on a Rosedale farm in the 1940 U.S. Federal Census. Records also show that Arnold Francis Boers lived in Gig Harbor for six years before his own death in 1944, at age 59. Boers’ mother, Anna Henrica (Schoenmakers) Boers, was from Olympia. Today, both parents are buried at Calvary Cemetery, in Seattle.
In the late 1930s, Boers attended Garfield High School in Seattle alongside his future wife, Nona Jean Smith. They married March 21, 1942, and had a son together, Richard Boers. A month prior, Boers registered for the draft, listing a Seattle home address.
As a civilian, he worked at Seattle General Depot, a U.S. Army supply hold, at 4735 E. Marginal Way. The site was originally a Ford Motor Co. assembly plant. Boers married Nona Jean Smith, who also attended Garfield High School. They wed on March 21, 1942 and had one son together, Richard Boers. About eight months after the wedding, Boers enlisted with the U.S. Army Air Corps on Nov. 9, 1942.
On his draft card, Boers is listed as approximately 5-foot-10 and weighing 155 pounds. He had gray eyes, blonde hair, and a light complexion.
He was assigned to the U.S. Army Air Corps’ 1st Air Cargo Resupply Squadron. As part of the Tenth Air Force’s 443rd Troop Carrier Group, Boers and his unit were primarily tasked with transport and dropping supplies to the U.S. and Allied Forces fighting against the Japanese in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations. Resupply squadrons were known to haul items such as gasoline, oil, engineering equipment, medicine, rations, and ammunition. The 443rd Group flew C-47 and C-46 aircraft in the years Boers served. During a parachute mission to drop supplies to Chinese forces in the Burma Mountains, Boers was killed in action on Jan. 18, 1945, as reported in the Feb. 3, 1945 edition of The Seattle Star (pictured).
Boers remains were returned to the U.S. from India in 1948, three years after his death. He’s now buried at Golden Gate National Cemetery, in California, alongside his wife who died July 20, 1969 at age 48.
OTHER DETAILS
See a picture of Boers’ headstone here.
WWII Registry honors record.
Status: KIA – Killed in Action
Olalla resident Greg Spadoni contributed historical information to this story.
Willard Chessman
The Tacoma News Tribune, Feb. 8, 1945.
Hometown: Longbranch, Key Peninsula
Branch: U.S. Army Air Forces
Rank: Staff Sergeant
Died: Feb 3, 1945
Staff Sgt. Willard “Bill” Melvin Chessman was born Jan. 26, 1923 to Alice Maud (Eley) Chessman and Walter Ernest Chessman of Longbranch, Washington. He died at age 22.
Before entering World War II, Chessman was part of Vaughn Union High School’s class of 1940. His name appeared in local newspapers to highlight his many community involvements: attending a Christmas program with his classmates, visiting a Vaughn-area nature club, and helping out with animals at the local 4-H club. On April 27, 1941, Chessman and his teammates on the Horseshoe Lake baseball team faced off against Olalla in Gig Harbor’s “first ball game of the season,” according to the Tacoma News Tribune,
About two years later, Chessman registered for WWII as an unmarried man out of Tacoma, Washington. His draft card listed him at 5-foot-6, 158 pounds, with brown hair, hazel eyes and a ruddy complexion. Chessman entered the service Jan. 15, 1943, the Tacoma News Tribune reported in August, and he was stationed at the U.S. Army Air Forces basic training center in Kearns, Utah, Afterward, Chessman went on to study aircraft inspection and maintenance at a technical training command school in Inglewood, California, according to an undated newspaper clip.
After training, Chessman deployed overseas for two years, fighting over Europe as waist gunner in his squadron’s four-engine aircraft, the B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber. Waist gunners defended their aircraft in pairs by shooting machine guns from open windows while their unit dropped bombs on enemy territory. Waist gunners also checked their aircraft for damage, according to the Army Air Corps Library and Museum, and assisted with its repairs.
The undated news clip, presumably from 1945, went on to say that Chessman came home from Europe in the fall and spent a 21-day furlough at home in Vaughn. Afterward, he was reassigned to Texas – stationed at a new base for advanced training at the Amarillo Army Air Field. On Feb. 3, 1945, Chessman was killed there – struck by a hit-and-run driver on Route 66. The Amarillo Globe-Times gave additional details on Feb. 6, 1945
“…Chessman was found about 9:30 o’clock Saturday morning lying in a ditch on U. S. Highway 66 about a mile east of where the highway joins U. S. Highway 60. He had been struck several hours previously and had not been dead long when found, investigators learned. Officers at the sheriff’s department investigated a reported accident in that vicinity at about 12:30 o’clock Saturday morning but found no one.”
After he died, news reports said Chessman received a Presidential citation and was awarded the oak leaf clusters for distinguished service in the U.S. Army Air Forces. He’s buried at Tacoma Cemetery.
Status: DNB – Died Non-Battle
Raymond Edwards
Tacoma News Tribune | Newspapers.com
Hometown: Gig Harbor
Branch: U.S. Army Air Forces
Rank: Second Lieutenant
Died: Dec. 20, 1944
Before he entered the war, Second Lt. Raymond J. Edwards was involved in the community. In 1940, the news reported he was elected as senior class president at Gig Harbor’s Union High.
In 1941, Edwards was highlighted in the Tacoma News Tribune for being one of two local teens who was awarded a bronze plaque by the local Lions Club for being an “outstanding male graduate” in high school for “sportsmanship and citizenship.”
He was also the son of Dave Edwards, owner of D.C. Edwards Garage. That business has a shoutout at the Kids’ Gig playground in Gig Harbor in the form of a mural of its signage.
Four months before he died, in August 1944, the Tacoma News Tribune reported he earned his Army Air Force Pilot Badge when he was 21 years old:
His death was detailed in a caption researched and written by Olalla resident Greg Spadoni in the Harbor History Museum‘s digital photo database. It reads:
“Ray and another brother, Roy, left for service in the Army in February 1943. Ray, a navigator on a Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber, was killed in action over southern Italy in December 1944, when multiple engine failure prevented his aircraft from returning to base. He bailed out over the Aegean Sea but did not survive.”
OTHER DETAILS
WWII Registry honors record.
Lyle S. Jones
Further research shows that Lyle Jones isn’t photographed in this picture because he joined the Sugarfoot’s crew as a replacement on the day of the crash.
Hometown: Gig Harbor and Pendroy, Montana
Branch: U.S. Army Air Forces
Rank: Sergeant; tail gunner
Died: Dec. 11, 1943 | Age 24
Sgt. Lyle Sanford Jones was born June 13, 1919 in Gig Harbor to Elsie Lenora (Dimmick) Jones and Sanford David Jones. In the 1920 U.S. Census, he had five siblings: Horace, Lois, Doris, Marvin, and Lila Jones, his twin sister.
Lyle Jones served on the Eighth Air Force Group’s 3rd Division, with the 13th Combat Wing. His unit was the 100th Bomb Group’s 351st Bomb Squadron.He was killed when the squadron’s four-engine B-17 bomber, “Sugarfoot,” was shot down over Germany on Dec. 11, 1943.
The 100th Bomb Group has an entire foundation named after it for being “The Bloody Hundredth,” a moniker for its unusually high losses against Germany during WWII. Sgt. Jones is listed by name in the 100th Bomb Group Foundation’s online database as a replacement crew member on the ill-fated Dec. 11, 1943 mission to the German city of Emden. Sugarfoot featured “battlefield modifications to install a chin turret” designed to hold machine guns and increase the plane’s front power. Sgt. Jones was stationed in the back of the plane as its tail gunner.
The Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial, Holland | Source: 100th Bomb Group Foundation
The 100h Bomb Group’s account of Sugarfoot’s flight has statements from the mission’s only survivor as well as a harrowing essay titled “Sugarfoot: The True Story of Ten Brave Men and a B-17 Flying Fortress” written by Francis P. McDermott, nephew of Sugarfoot’s Radio Operator Charlie Kobis.
Here’s an excerpt from the portion of the essay that mentions Sgt. Jones:
“Sgt. Lyle S. Jones would occupy the tail gunners position in place of Sgt. Robert D. Abney, whose hands and legs were frozen when his electrical flying suit failed during the Bordeaux flight. The crew members knew each other pretty well by now, having become good friends since coming together as an Air Crew at Walla Walla, Washington, earlier in the year.”
The essay goes on to describe the flight, attack, and Sugarfoot’s subsequent crash into the ocean, all based on survivor reports.
OTHER DETAILS
At the end of the foundation’s report on Sgt. Jones’ crash, two 1940s newspaper clippings appear from undisclosed publications linked here and here. The first article details when Sgt. Lyle S. Jones’ mother in Great Falls, Montana, learned her son was missing in action. The second article talks about separately when his mother was awarded a medal in his name.
Sgt. Jones’ name is inscribed on the “Tablet of the Missing“ at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial, in Holland.
Status: MIA – Missing in Action; FOD – Finding of Death*
A *Finding of Death is issued when the military declares someone is dead in the absence of a recovered body. It’s not clear why some military personelle deemed MIA have this while others don’t.
Kenneth Kirkendoll
Kitsap Sun, Dec. 21, 1943
Hometown: Gig Harbor
Branch: U.S. Army
Rank: Private
Died: Sept. 24, 1944
Tacoma News Tribune
The Tacoma News Tribune and the Kitsap Sun published accolades for Pvt. Kirkendoll a year before his death for making his “fifth and qualifying jump” from the parachute school at Fort Benning, Ga. The milestone earned him his “coveted wings and boots of the (United States’) most modern soldier – the paratrooper.” The maneuver was a “tactical night jump (after) four weeks of intensive training in jumping, which included dropping from the 250-foot towers and learning completely the technique of safe parachute jumping and landing.”
WWII Registry honors record
Status: DNB – Died Non-Battle
Harold Mitts
Given caption on findagrave.com: “Lt. Harold Mitts. Photo may have been taken in Western Washington St. prior to deployment to Alaska in early 1942.”
Hometown: Gig Harbor
Branch: U.S. Army Air Forces
Rank: First Lieutenant
Died: Jul 17, 1942
First Lt. Harold E. Mitts of Gig Harbor, was a member of a bomber crew in the 36th Bomber Squadron’s 28th Bomber Group reported missing in action July 17, 1942 after leading an attack flight over Alaska’s Aleutian Islands against Japanese naval forces. He was ultimately awarded the Purple Heart and an Air Medal, posthumously.
Per the Kitsap Sun, on Aug. 10, 1942: “First Lt. Harold Elmer Mitts, son of Olie Mitts of Gig Harbor, today was listed by the war department as missing in action in Alaska. It was presumed he was lost during aerial action against the (Japanese) in the Aleutian Islands. Mitts’ name was among 77 on a new list of Army men missing in Alaskan and Hawaiian theaters of war.”
Part of Mitts’ story is detailed in “The Marks Report” of combat operations filed by Capt. Jack S. Marks while stationed at Ladd Field, Alaska. It says 1st Lt. Mitts – Navigator – was among his men that remained dedicated on a particularly grueling mission in June 1942, one month before he and Mitts died in a separate attack with their crew.
From the events they encountered, Capt. Marks writes a glowing recommendation for which 1st Lt. Mitts was part of:
“I have never encountered a better group with more fortitude, energy, and self-sacrifice. We averaged two sandwiches a day for food for the first four days, as no provisions had been made to have us fed, and they would not leave the plane. For their devotion to duty under fire in the face of constant danger, these men deserve every bit of credit they can be given and are recommended for whatever citations, honors, or medal for which they may be eligible.”
Capt. Marks, 1st Lt. Mitts, and others in the crew were shot down while flying a B-17E. The plane fell into the ocean, and the bodies were never recovered.
OTHER DETAILS
WWII Registry honors record
*John M. Swensen (corrected spelling)
John M. Swenson on monument sign
Source: 80th Division Digital Archives Project
Note: John’s last name is unfortunately misspelled on Gig Harbor’s WWII monument. The correct spelling is “Swensen.” It appears the error to replace the second ‘e’ in “Swensen” with an ‘o,’ was fairly common – as evidenced by a handful of his military records with penned corrections to his last name.
Hometown: Gig Harbor
Branch: U.S. Army
Rank: Private
Died: Dec. 24, 1944
Pvt. John M. Swensen was born April 13, 1923 in Gig Harbor to Norway immigrants Albert and Helma Swensen. He attended four years of high school and worked at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, possibly as a file clerk, before the war. Swensen enlisted on Feb. 8, 1943 in Tacoma and joined the U.S. Army’s 80th Infantry Division as a rifleman in Company ‘K’, under the 319th Infantry Regiment’s 3rd Battalion. Pvt. The 80th Infantry Division deployed to Europe’s Luxembourg in December 1944 to fight German forces on icy roads and snow during the Battle of the Bulge.
A few weeks into the Luxembourg mission, Pvt. Swensen was killed in action on Christmas Eve after being shot in the chest near the village of Tadler. That day, the men experienced a “fierce counter-attack with tanks and infantry” with the enemy, reports say. Additional details on what his division was doing the day he died are available in the 80th Division Digital Archives Project’s Morning Reports files. Pvt. Swensen was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.
OTHER DETAILS
Pvt. Swensen is listed in the Fields of Honor Database.
Pvt. Swensen is buried at the Luxembourg American Cemetery & Memorial in Hamm Germany.
He’s the younger brother of Ragna, Grette, Harold, and Alfred “Alf” Swensen, 1930 Census records show.
Status: KIA – Killed in Action
Sylvester Metzinger
findagrave.com
Hometown: South Dakota. (He got married married in Pierce County, Wash., in 1941)
Branch: U.S. Army
Rank: Private first class
Died: Jan. 16, 1945
Pfc. Metzinger was born April 23, 1919 in Davison County, South Dakota. He married Margaret J. Edwards of Port Orchard on Aug. 2, 1941, Metzinger either lived or was staying in Pierce County at the time, according to his marriage certificate. In WWII, Metzinger was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division’s 3rd Reconnaissance Troop. He died in France from wounds involving artillery in the abdomen. Pfc. Metzinger was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart, according to the National Archives and Records Administration. He’s buried overseas at Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial in France.
OTHER DETAILS
His wife Margaret died April 5, 2007, at age 85. She is buried in Lakewood, Wash.
Pfc. Metzinger is listed in the American Battlegrounds Monument Commission database that honors the services of overseas U.S. Armed Forces.
See a photo of his headstone here.
Status: KIA – Killed in Action
Douglas Mortensen
Bremerton Daily News Searchlight, Sept. 2 1944
Hometown: Port Orchard
Branch: U.S. Army Air Forces
Rank: Lieutenant
Died: July 29, 1944
Lt. Douglas Mortensen of Port Orchard, the co-pilot of a Liberator bomber, was killed in action in Europe during an engagement over enemy territory, the Bremerton Daily News Searchlight reported in a Sept. 2 1944 article. Lt. Mortensen served with the 67th Bomber Squadron’s 44th Bomber Group and was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart for his service, according to the American Battle Monuments Commission in Arlington, Va.
OTHER DETAILS
WWII Registry honors record
Status: DOI – Died of Injuries
Herman C. Niemann
wwiiregistry.abmc.gov
Hometown: Vaughn
Branch: U.S. Army
Rank: Private
Died: June 21, 1943
Pvt. Herman Cecil Niemann, 19, was born Jan. 18, to Mr. and Mrs. Herman Niemann, also of Vaughn. He enlisted in WWII on Feb. 8 1943 from Tacoma. Military records note, that at age 18, he had skills in the production of industrial chemicals from his civilian job at the Naval Ammunitions Depot in Bremerton. This information is listed on his draft card. Pvt. Niemann was accidentally shot and killed by a bullet from a submachine gun he was carrying on patrol duty at Hamilton Field, a U.S. Air Force base in Marin County, Calif. The news was reported in the Spokane Chronicle’s June 22, 1943 edition as well as in the Kitsap Sun. His nicknames were “Hap” and “Happy,” according to his page on findagrave.com. He was the older brother of the late Robert Niemann, who also died in WWII.
OTHER DETAILS
Pvt. Niemann is buried at the Niemann Family Cemetery in Vaughn. The cemetery is described as small with 14 graves, located across the street from the Vaughn Bay Cemetery on 186th Avenue.
WWII Registry honors record
Status: DNB – Died Non-Battle
Robert Niemann
Branch: U.S. Army
Rank: Private first class
Died: Jan. 10, 1945
Pfc. Robert Niemann, born Dec. 31, 1924, joined the U.S. Army’s 165th Infantry Brigade. He was killed in action Jan. 6, 1945, on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. Robert Niemann is buried at the Niemann Family Cemetery in Vaughn with his family.
OTHER DETAILS
He was the younger brother of the late Herman “Happy” Niemann. They were born just 11 months apart.
WWII Registry honors record
Status: KIA: Killed in Action
Burton Allen* Gustafson
Source: National Archives photo 80-G-79596 USS Tatoosh (YAG-1) at Naval Operating Base (NOB) Kodiak in Alaska on Feb. 17, 1943. Gustafson went missing three months later.
Hometown: Gig Harbor
Branch: U.S. Naval Reserve, U.S. Navy
Rank: 2nd Class Machinist’s Mate
Died: May 30, 1943 (MIA); May 31, 1944 (declared dead)
Burton A. Gustafson served as a 2nd Class Machinist’s Mate with the U.S. Navy’s 13th District in WWII. He enrolled early, opting to join the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1936. Machinist Mates are skilled at operating, maintaining, and repairing steam engines, turbines, pumps, and other systems in a ship’s engine room. In the war, Gustafson served aboard the USS Tatoosh.
wwiiregistry.abmc.gov
The wooden-hulled steamship was used to service the Kodiak and Adak Island naval bases in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands during the war. Records say Gustafson went missing May 30, 1943, and was declared dead a year later*. His body was never recovered. Gustafson is honored at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, in Honolulu, Hawaii. His name is displayed in the Courts of the Missing, in Court No. 3.
OTHER DETAILS
The late Oscar and Anna Gustafson are Burton Gustafson’s grandparents. Their names appear on one of the remembrance plaques upon the steps of the City of Gig Harbor’s Finholm View Climb off Harborview Drive. The family also has a street named after them, Gustafson Drive NW, off Wollochet Drive on the city’s westside.
The 13th District was initially based at Bremerton’s Puget Sound Navy Yard before it moved to Seattle. Records show Gustafson spent time at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, and working on ships that sailed in and out of Seattle.
WWII Registry honors record
Status: MIA – Missing in Action
*Burton A. Gustafson’s middle name is spelled “Allen” and “Allan,” interchangeably, throughout his military records. It appears the correct spelling is “Allen.”
Carl Pearson
wwiiregistry.abmc.gov
Hometown: Hales Pass, Gig Harbor
Branch: U.S. Army
Rank: Staff Sergeant
Died: March 31, 1945
Carl Wendel Pearson was born Apr 5, 1916, in the Hales Pass area of Gig Harbor to Anna Eugenia Pearson and Clifford Nelson Pearson. Before the war, he worked as a carpenter. He enlisted with the U.S. Army on April 6, 1942, from Tacoma and joined the 80th Infantry Division, under the 318th Infantry Regiment. While details of his death record were not readily available, according to the 80th Division Digital Archives Project, on the day Staff Sgt. Wendel died, the 318th Infantry closed its command post in Lich, Germany and traveled by motor convoy 45 miles to an area near the eastern German town of Neukirch. Sgt. Pearson is buried at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Mateo County, Calif.
OTHER DETAILS
His parents are buried at Cromwell Cemetery in Gig Harbor.
WWII Registry honors record
Status: KIA – Killed in Action
George Nelson
Kitsap Sun, April 29, 1949, via Newspapers.com
Hometown: Gig Harbor (for two years)
Branch: U.S. Army
Rank: Private First Class
Died: Sept. 21, 1944
Pfc. Nelson was born June 21, 1922, in Hillhead, South Dakota to Kerstin “Jessie” (Hanson) Nelson and Nikolai Nelson. The family moved to Bremerton in September 1938, and then to Gig Harbor in 1940. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on Aug. 23, 1943 and joined the 39th Infantry Regiment’s 9th Infantry Division. The 39th was known for its triple-A slogan: “…Anything, Anywhere, Anytime – Bar Nothing.” At the time of Nelson’s death, the 39th infantry was in Germany, fighting the Battle of Hürtgen Forest east of the Belgian/German border. Pfc. Nelson was killed in action by artillery shell fragments to his head and neck, records show. He’s buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Bremerton, although it appears his body didn’t return to the United States until 1949 – about five years after he died. His obituary also ran that year, in the Kitsap Sun’s April 29, 1949 edition.
OTHER DETAILS
A sweet tribute note to Pfc. Nelson was made on his findagrave.com. It says:
“Hi cousin George, I was 6 years old when you came by our house on your way back to your base. (I) will always remember you took us out for ice cream.”
Status: KIA – Killed in Action
My part in this
Peninsula Gateway, June 1, 1945. Courtesy via Greg Spadoni.
When I featured the park’s playground as a family favorite last week, the column took a detour to celebrate Gig Harbor veteran Kenny Marvin, for whom the park is named. Marvin’s plaque stands on a wooden post next to the stone monument at the playground’s parking lot entrance. At the time, I could only track down information on Marvin, but not the names of the 14 men listed beneath the browns, blues, and greens of the 79-year-old worn copper patina plaque on the granite obelisk.
If you know me at all, you’d see that’s just the type of unsolved mystery that just won’t do. I had to find out who these men were, how they served, and where they died. At the very least, I figured there was a good chance these veterans from 70-some years ago hadn’t been circulated in the modern-day public record lately, and that their families would appreciate having the men in the news again. Or, maybe the veterans’ descendants didn’t know some of the details of their service, or their passing.
Regardless, I wanted to look up their names.
Even if it was just for myself.
Between the morning rush of ushering small children off to school and my 437th load of laundry, I sat with my laptop to scout 14 stories behind the 14 names memorialized at Clara and Wyatt’s favorite park. Several weeks later, I finished**. (Though I periodically add a bit here and there as new leads pop up).
And now, every time the kids and leave our car and head for the slides at this little park, I’ll take a moment to smile because I’ll know a little bit more about the men behind the monument — and what they did for our country.
Happy Memorial Day, Gig Harbor.
**Note: For some names, I couldn’t find enough information. In others, I found quite a bit. I apologize that some names are given more detail than others, as all fallen veterans are of equal importance. If you have more information on any of these guys, please share it in the comments section of the Gig Harbor Now Facebook page or email me at [email protected] and I will gladly add it to this report after verifing the facts.
The “WWII Registry honors record” links listed in this article are in reference to the United State’s American Battle Monuments Commission’s WWII Registry at wwiiregistry.abmc.gov. The WWII Registry is the official database for Americans listed on the United States’ “War and Navy Department Killed in Service” rosters at the National Archives and Records Administration. Acknowledgements to veterans from members of the public can also be made and displayed there.
@two.n.tow
Tonya Strickland is a Gig Harbor mom-of-two, longtime journalist, and Instagram influencer in the family and travel niche. Her blog, Two in Tow & On the Go, was recently named among the 10 Seattle-Area Instagram Accounts to Follow by ParentMap magazine. Tonya and her husband Bowen recently moved to Gig Harbor from California with their two kids, Clara (9) and Wyatt (7). Find her on Instagram and Facebook for all the kid-friendly places in and around Gig Harbor.