Thread to discuss people who should be remembered.
Mine was a fellow I worked with when I was 18. One of his friends referred to him as "Saipan Al" and mentioned that he had been a decorated Marine. Being 18 and dumb, I never got up the nerve to ask him about it. He was a slight and unassuming fellow, who while pretty outgoing, never brought up his military service. I remember hearing he died in the 90s, contracting cancer from what he attributed to exposure to radiation while serving is the Occupation Forces in either Nagasaki or Hiroshima.
Years later with the advent of the internet I was able to find what is posted below, which would have occurred when he was 20. Sure wish I would have been able to get the whole story from him. Regardless...
RIP. Well done Marine.
"Silver Star
AWARDED FOR ACTIONS
DURING World War II
Service: Marine Corps
Rank: Private First Class
Battalion: 1st Battalion
Division: 2d Marine Division
GENERAL ORDERS:
Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force Pacific: Serial 6068
CITATION:
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class Alfred B. Sharafinski (MCSN: 809717), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a Radio Operator of Headquarters Company, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Tinian, Marianas Islands, 31 July 1944. When his company was under a heavy enemy counterattack and wire communications were severed, Private First Class Sharafinski voluntarily followed the wire from his company to the adjacent company to find and repair the break and, although told he could spend the night there, elected to return to his own company. Encountering a small group of the enemy while en route back to his company with a comrade, he participated in a fire fight in which five Japanese and the other Marine were killed. His courage and devotion to duty reflect the highest credit upon Private First Class Sharafinski and the United States Naval Service.
Last edited by cv540; 11/08/19.
