World War II Photos

My father Puzant "Mike" Keropian was a great inspiration to me, and after sorting out his records and personal effects after his death in 1986, I found a number of pictures he took while a Marine during WWII. Since many of the images were pictures of his fellow soldiers and some names were on the back of the photos, I thought it would be nice to share them with their family members. I tried contacting some names but this came up dry. Perhaps some of the families will recognize a name of a grandfather or family member that served with my father during the war.

My father enlisted in the Marine Corp in early 1942 right after the Pearl Harbor attack. He went to bootcamp at Parris Island then to officer training school and became a communications officer (First Lieutenant) in 1943. He was stationed stateside in North Carolina and California. He was appointed a Captain in the summer of 1945, and then embarked to Hawaii, Kwajalein and Sasebo Bay, Kyushu Island, Japan in the Fall of 1945. Most of his travel was on USS LST 615. During this time he was with the (MAWS-12, Mag-22, 2dMAW). A number of the pictures were taken on the Island of Kwajalein in July 1945 and late summer to fall in Japan.

The Battle for Kwajalein took place from January- February 1944. Battle for Kwajalein in Pictures