Robert Joseph Valentine

Storekeeper First Class, U.S. Navy
Serial: 2439270

Entered the Service from: New Jersey
Died: January 16, 1946
Buried at: Naval Plot Section 1 Row 10 Site 17
Mount Moriah Cemetery
62nd Street & Kingsessing Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Storekeeper First Class Robert Joseph Valentine was born in 1923 in Camden, New Jersey. He was the son of Anthony Valentine, a member of the Camden Fire Department, and his wife Helen Corson. The family lived at 447 Jackson Street in Camden.

Robert Joseph Valentine enlisted in the United States Navy on May 26, 1941, prior to the American entry into World War II. In June of 1942, he was assigned to the USS Polaris (AF-11), a stores ship that made runs to Iceland. He was promoted to Seaman First Class on June 1, 1942, and to Storekeeper Third Class on October 1, 1942. He served aboard USS Polaris through February of 1943.

Valentine was then transferred to the USS Yorktown (CV-10), a new Essex-class aircraft carrier commissioned on April 15, 1943. In August of 1943 he was promoted to Storekeeper Second Class. On December 13, 1943 he was transferred to Carrier Aircraft Service Unit 1 (CASU 1) at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He was later promoted to Storekeeper First Class.

Storekeeper First Class Robert Joseph Valentine died on January 16, 1946 at the United States Naval Hospital in Philadelphia, of peritonitis, while still on active duty. He was survived by his wife, Emma May Valentine, of 6924 East Walnut Avenue, Pennsauken, New Jersey. He was buried at Mount Moriah Cemetery in Philadelphia in the Naval Plot.