Kenneth Laurion USA

​​​​​​​By Dennis Laurion, September 2013​​​​​​​

Dennis Laurion

I enjoyed reading the feature "Six brothers’ military service to be honored."

My father, Kenneth Laurion was born in 1925. He is the son of Omer and Ruby Coons and the brother of Louis - Lloyd - Robert and Raymond, all of Washburn WI. He married Lois Johnson in 1944 and lives in Duluth Minnesota.

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Living in Duluth at age 88, my father Kenneth Laurion, is the last of 5 brothers from Washburn, Wisconsin, who served in World War II. His mother and father had a 5-star flag in their window.


My father enlisted in the Navy at age 17 during World War II.


By age 19, he was a Navy combat medic in the Solomon Islands, a Second Class Petty Officer, then the equivalent of an Army or Marine Corps Staff Sergeant. After serving at a Naval Hospital in Florida, at two mobile hospitals in the Solomon Islands, on an island-hopping ship - the APc34 - my father returned to the United States as permanent party at a Navy prison in New York, and as permanent party at a POW camp in the midwest. As a Petty Officer Second Class, my father needed the permission of his parents before he could marry in Wisconsin.


My father and his four brothers all returned home from World War II and fathered children. One brother made a career of the Army. My father worked two jobs and supported a family while obtaining a Ph.B. and an M.S. in Counseling. He was a Boy Scout leader, an Elder in his church, a high school teacher, and a systems analyst at the advent of the computer age. Out of 5 brothers, my father was the only Navy veteran. His 4 brothers chose the Army. His father became an armed guard, patrolling the Barksdale DuPont plant, which produced TNT for the war effort.

Kenneth Laurion on Veteran's Memorial Hall

Era: World War II  -  Military Branch: Navy

Mr. Laurion served in World War II.

He served in the U.S. Navy.

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.

Kenneth and his wife Lois in 2009

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