- SURNAME
Kraft
- FORENAME
Kenneth Anthony
- UNIT
formerly 1st Marine Parachute Regiment
- RANK
Private First Class
- NUMBER
506927
- DATE OF DEATH
22nd February 1945
- AGE
20
- GRAVESITE
Seymour Cemetery, Seymour, Wisconsin, USA. Section BA, Row 1
- ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born 25.03.1924 Dorchester, Wisconsin, USA
father Anthony John Kraft (1892-1941)
mother Arbie M. (nee Krause) Kraft (1903-1969)
1942 graduated Seymour High School, Seymour, Wisconsin
employed by Leathern D. Smith Shipbuilding
30.06.1942 draft card Door, Wisconsin
20.11.1942 entered service
Next of kin - Wife, Mrs. Kenneth A. Kraft, c/o Earl Spoude, Route 1, Seymour, Wisconsin
KIA Iwo Jima, Japan
posthumous Silver Star
DATE OF DEATH:
22-Feb-1945CITATION:
Silver Star : The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Private First Class Kenneth A. Kraft (MCSN: 506927), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a Rifleman in a platoon of Company I, Third Battalion, Twenty-sixth Marines, FIFTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 22 February 1945. Alert and aggressive, Private First Class Kraft spotted a wounded comrade in front of the platoon's lines at a critical period of the action when the enemy's blanketing mortar and artillery barrage was inflicting severe casualties on his unit. Quick to act, he voluntarily crawled approximately thirty feet to the wounded Marine and, braving the savage fury of Japanese fire, carried his comrade to a shell hole where he promptly administered first aid. Returning to his platoon, he organized a rescue party and subsequently assisted in evacuating the Marine, thereby saving the life of the wounded man. Although mortally wounded by a burst of machine-gun fire later in the day, Private First Class Kraft, by his dauntless initiative and unfaltering devotion to duty in the face of tremendous opposition, had rendered valiant service and his conduct throughout upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
WEB LINKS:
https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/42141FINDAGRAVE:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60322879/kenneth-a-kraft
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