John Henry Gress Sr. served as a corporal for the U.S. Marine Corp as a member of an assault engineer platoon, attached to the 1st Battalion, 25th Marines, 4th Marine Division for all operations, in WWII.

Furthermore, he has been honored with many prestigious military awards including: The Purple Heart, Presidential Unit Citation with 1 Bronze Star, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 4 Bronze Stars, WWII Victory Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, and Commendation Citation.

John’s platoon landed at Iwo Jima in the second wave as a member of an assault engineer platoon whose first job was to blow down a cliff that intelligence reported was there so the tanks could move inland. Intelligence was wrong, there was no cliff. At the end of the first day, there were 3 left in his 13 man squad. He was wounded late on the second day while helping to lead the tanks through a mine field. John believes valiantly in the efforts of the US Armed Forces and fought heroically.