Kenneth Laurion
Era: World War II
Military Branch: Navy
Kenneth Laurion served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
Source: Interviews with students from Ordean Middle School (see below)
The following is taken from an interview by Jill Gorghuber, an Ordean Middle School student.
“I joined the Navy in 1942. I was seventeen at the time. I left high school to join like a lot of others. If we were seniors you were allowed to. I was 8,000 miles away from home when my parents got the diploma. So you were still able to graduate.”
When Pearl Harbor was attacked Kenneth says he “was sixteen and was getting my first driver’s license. The law said we have to go to the police department. So I did and made an appointment for Sunday. When I got home from passing the test I heard the news that the bombs had just fallen on Pearl Harbor. We were now in war!”
Kenneth was a Naval Hospital Corpsman. He served in the jungles of Munda and in the South Pacific. He was working in a Naval prison at Hart’s Island, New York when he got news of the end of the war.
When asked why he joined the Navy he said, “I joined the Navy because that was the only one you could be in at age seventeen. I wanted to join because I wanted to help win the war, to be part of it. In some ways to get back for them bombing Pearl Harbor. Also my brothers had already joined the war.
The following story was taken from an interview conducted by Ashley Carlson, a student at Ordean Middle School. The narrative tells the story of Kenneth V. Laurion's experiences during World War II.
Kenneth Laurion was 17 when he enlisted in the Navy. He left high school to go. He was 8,000 miles from home when his diploma was given to his parents at the regular graduation ceremony in the spring. He served as a Naval Hospital Corpsman. He served in Jacksonville, Florida Naval Hospital before going to the SW Pacific where he first served in Naval Mobile Hospital Number 5. Laurion also served at the Naval Advance Base Hospital 250 in a jungle in Munda. After returning stateside, he served at the Brooklyn Naval Hospital and a naval prison before going to Farraget Naval Hospital in Idaho.
