Eugene Kramer

Birthplace: Garnett, KS

Branch of Service: Navy

Unit: Arm Guard, Radioman - 3rd Class

Theater of Operation: Pacific

Enlisted / Commissioned: Mar 16, 1943

Discharged: Nov 9, 1945

Highest Rank: 3rd Class

Military Honors: World War II Victory Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal

Honored By: The Gene Kramer Family

Eugene “Gene” Kramer left his home March 15, 1943 to join the Navy at age 17. He signed all his papers and they put him on a train to Farragut. Kramer did not even get to go back home to say good-bye. Boot camp was in Farragut, Idaho where he gradated in May and was transferred to Los Angeles for radio school. Training was until December 1943 and Kramer boarded his first ship, the S. S. Philip Kearny. Kramer served on board ships through out his Naval career by receiving messages transferring them into written messages that where passed on to the Bridge. His travels included Guadalcanal, Australia New Guinea Russell Island, New Hebrides, Hawaii, Guam, Okinawa and Siapan. Kramer was one of nine children, with eight boys and one girl in his family. He went to grade school in a one-room school house in Melvern, KS. Kramer and Lorraine Thompson Kramer were married June 9, 1946, and had five children. The couple was married 73 years. Kramer started Kramer’s Gas Station with his brother, John in 1959. He also worked for many years with Murray’s TV in Paola.