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Casualty Info
Home Town Reading, PA
Last Address 434 Buttonwood St Reading, PA
Casualty Date Feb 19, 1945
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Artillery, Rocket, Mortar
Location Japan
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Union Cemetery - Boyertown, Pennsylvania
Thank you to Eric Ackerman,Topeka, Kansas for the following:
POTTSTOWN MERCURY, POTTSTOWN, PA., MONDAY MORNING, APRIL 5, 1948, FRONT PAGE
MILITARY RITES LISTED FOR MARINE HERO KILLED ON IWO JIMA
The body of Pfc. Vincent Acker Jr., of Pottstown RD 3, of the Marine Corps who was killed by Japanese mortar fire on Iwo Jima after being decorated for bravery in previous campaigns, will be laid to rest Wednesday afternoon in Union cemetery, Boyertown, after full military rites are accorded.
Private Acker, whose body was shipped to San Francisco, Calif., two weeks ago, then brought here, was born in Pottstown. He attended Shillington High school, where he was president of his junior class and active in football and track.
Shortly after enlisting in 1942 his family moved to Pottstown.
He participated in four invasions: Roi-Namur in the Kwajalein atoll; Saipan; Tinian of the Marianas and Iwo Jima.
Posthumously he received the Purple Heart, Bronze Star and Presidential Unit Citation with star.
Private Acker earned his Bronze Star with the "Carlson Raiders:" for repairing and operating his battalion commander's radio under heavy enemy fire.
On February 19, 1945, when he was 21 years old, he landed in the early waves of troops on Iwo Jima as radio operator. Soon after landing he was killed instantly.
Surviving are his mother and father Vincent Acker Sr. and Katie (Deloplaine) Acker; sister, Mrs. Frank C. Jones, Columbia, S.C.; and two brothers, John G., Boyertown RD 2, and Calvin C., Westgrove, Pa.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday at 2 p.m. from a funeral home at 112 North Washington street. Military honors will be tendered by members of George A. Amole Post 47, American Legion.
