Donald J. Harner

Rank: Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps

Serial: 359259

Unit: Amphibious Recon Battalion, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific

Entered service from: New Jersey

Died: April 6, 1945, Okinawa

Memorial: Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii

Awards: Purple Heart

Sergeant Donald J. Harner was born in 1919 to Walter and May Harner. His father had spent eight years in the United States Navy as a sailmaker’s mate and was employed at the Schuylkill Arsenal in Philadelphia making tents during and after World War I. The family, which included an older brother, Walter Jr., lived on Montrose Street in Philadelphia when the Census was taken in January of 1920.

When the 1930 Census was taken, the Harners were living in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania, Walter Sr. then working as a railroad brakeman. It appears that Walter Jr. had passed, but four other children had joined the family: Marguerite, Josephine, Joseph, and Raymond.

The Harner family moved to Camden in the 1930s. Sadly, Walter Harner Sr. passed away on January 4, 1938. By the time the 1943 Camden City Directory was compiled, the family had moved to 709 Cedar Street. By this time Donald Harner had joined the Marines.

Sergeant Harner was killed in action on Okinawa on April 6, 1945. Before going overseas he had married Shirley Galt, of Ogden, UT, who was living in Ogden at the time of his death. He was also survived by his mother, Mrs. May Harner, of the Cedar Street address, sister Josephine Harner, and brothers Raymond and Joseph Harner.