World War II he enlisted in the US Marines Corps. He was on Midway Island when the war started and on Okinawa when it ended. In between there was Guadalcanal, The Marshalls and lwo Jima. By the time he was discharged from the Corps , he had put in eleven years and had a Silver Star, a Purple Heart and two silver crews with a silver plate in his left leg caused by an exploding hand grenade.