Jack Hammarstrom, born May 15, 1924 in Brooklyn, began service in the United States Navy on November 19, 1942. After entry, Jack attended the US Naval Training Center and School at Great Lakes, Illinois, from November 1942 to June 1943. While at Great Lakes, Jack moved quickly through the ranks, from an Apprentice Seaman (AS) to Seaman Second Class (S2c), then Quartermaster Third Class (QM3c). In the summer of 1943, Hammarstrom was transferred to the US Naval Training Center and School in Miami, where he was also briefly assigned to the USS PC613, a patrol craft. On December 18 of the same year, he was assgined to the USS PC1175 (later named the USS Vandalia in 1956), where he earned the rank of Quartermaster Second Class (QM2c). The USS PC1175, a submarine chaser, arrived at the Eniwetok Naval Base in the Marshall Islands on JUly 29, 1944. One day before departure for the Marianas Islands of Saipan, on August 4, 1944, he was killed on duty, in a non-combat related incidence. In his military career, Hammarstrom was decorated and awarded the WWII Victory Medal and an Honorable Service Lapel button. JOhn David Hammarstrom was 20 years of age at his death.