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Christian Kane
Mr.Conrad
ERWC Period 5
24 March 2016
My Family History During WWII
As a foreword, I must excuse myself for my methods for discovering my familys history
during the Second World War. I was not able to find much information through the internet. This
is because on July 12th, 1973 a fire erupted in the National Archives building in St. Louis, MO.
Millions of records of soldiers were destroyed and lost making this process more difficult for
myself and many other American citizens. Despite the rather tragic event, I concluded that I must
counsel my family. For they are the only ones who know the story of my family, but each of my
relatives only know different parts of the puzzle. So I took it upon myself to find out my
relatives true stories, I had grown up with small bits and pieces of skewed tales, but now I know
a dark tragic truth filled with hope, bravery, and loss.

Private First Class Francis P. Petraitis USMC

313 South Broadway Aurora Illinois, the home of the Petraitis family. A large Lithuanian
family which consisted of 2 boys, 3 girls, and a rough marriage between Mr. and Mrs. Petraitis.
They both slept in separate rooms and would soon suffer terrible losses. It began with the loss of
their first son who was killed in an automobile accident. Their second son, Frank P. Petraitis had
brown hair and blue eyes. He had a stocky build, weighing 151 pounds and 57 tall when he
was 23 years old. I was not able to find much information on Franks early life but in 1937 his
sister, Victoria, was a nurse in Illinois where she met a Marine Sergeant. This Sergeant was

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George F. Kane, of the United States Marine Corps. He started dating Victoria and became part
of the family.
However, Frank was jealous of George and his uniform. George was the perfect image of a
man in his era. Soon after meeting George, Frank made the choice to join the United States
Marine Corps. Back then, joining the military was the expected standard for masculinity, a place
to learn discipline, morals and make a man out of yourself; no one ever thought another war was
going to break out. Francis Petraitis was my Great Great Uncle. His sister, Victoria Petraitis,
married my Great Grandfather, George F. Kane. My family found a collection of all the
paperwork and letters Francis sent home to his mom and sisters during the war and they let me
document it. Through Franciss letters, I was able to read his whole path beginning to end. He
wanted to do his part as many Americans wanted to, but his parents frowned upon it due to him
being their only son left. He was assigned to a stateside headquarters company stationed in San
Diego California in October 1941. He made his journey there on October 23rd, 1941, recorded in
a letter he wrote to his sister, I might as well stash this letter the same way you have done, As
for the journey to Calif. I had a pretty good time. I met some Sailors, Marine Recruits, and Army
boys all going to San Diego. I had a swell time. I hated to leave home very much. After all I
dont like California as much as Illinois. Later on December 7th, 1941, Pearl Harbor was
attacked by the Japanese, and within a day we declared war on Japan and Germany. After Pearl
Harbor was attacked our country began its militarization, military production became a major
priority, and enlistment rate shot sky high. Nearly everyone wanted to do their part and go fight
the Imperial Japanese and Socialist Germanys war machines, and so did Frank. He was
operating as a fireman on the base and the war was raging on. He was doing his part but he
wanted to be on the line. Put the marine in marine, but for now he would have to stay stateside

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and continue being based in San Diego. He often wrote to his sisters and his mother, only
occasionally to his father. He spoke of home on many occasions, recalling childhood stories and
memories. In the few letters he wrote to his Father, he told his father how he was promoted to
Corporal and wished that his father felt proud of him - Frank was later demoted back to PFC.
Despite this, Franks father blamed George for encouraging Frank to enlist, and he frowned upon
George and the military. In another of Franks letters, Frank wrote to a sister about George and
Victorias marriage, I feel it is too early for sis to marry George I think its selfish of her, and
she should at least wait 5 more years. Interestingly enough when Victoria gave birth the
Michael Kane in 1942 he loved Mike. He wrote to everyone about him, every letter to every
family member. When I held the letters in person I could almost feel the emotion running off the
paper. Frank saw a bright future for Mike, to him Mike was something very special. Frank
visited often because Victoria relocated to San Diego. Although it is unknown if Frank ever had
any serious female relations, my Grandmother thinks she recalled that he had a girlfriend at one
point, but nothing more than that. When 1943 arrived George was deployed to the South Pacific
again, he came back in either late 1943 or early 1944. He had experienced a blood bath on
Tarawa, George was promoted to a Warrant Officer around this time. He was an experienced
fighter and he knew what this war could do to men. At this time Frank had enough, men were
fighting for freedom and he was sitting at a base while soldiers were tackling this historical
event. Men were dying and he knew he had to do his part. Finally Frank realized a perfect way to
get over to combat, the only way he was going to get a chance is with Georges new superior
rank. So Frank asked George if he could recommend him for a transfer to a combat unit instead
of being stuck in a stateside unit. George declined immediately, he was proud of Frank, they

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were brothers, and the last thing George needed was to see Frank get killed. George had already
seen his buddies get gunned down there and Frank was safe right where he was behind the lines.
Warrant Officer George F. Kane USMC
I knew a hero. That was my Great Grandfather George Kane, and not everyone can say
those words. George was not only a hero for what he did in the war, but for who he was and the
fact the he saw how horrible life can truly be, and kept on going through life . Little is known
about Georges past, we never had his letters, but he told many stories and I witnessed them at an
early age. He had a terrible upbringing, he was homeless at a young age, he had brothers who
most likely were not his brothers, a prostitute mother and no father. All in the streets of New
York during the great depression, before he made it to Illinois. George learned how to survive
from the start, after his mother abandoned them he made a living for himself and when he came
of age joined the US Army Cavalry, after his time in the Army he joined the Marines on
armistice day. He was immediately promoted to Sergeant and was sent to India before the war
and worked with communications. Somewhere between this timespan he met a nurse named
Victoria Petraitis and her family in Illinois. He loved Victoria and she loved him, but Victorias
father was not fond of the poor Irish soldier boy. He thought his daughter should have better and
always called George soldier boy. Soon enough Frank joined the Marines, and George was
called soldier boy less and less. Then Pearl Harbor happened and George was once again
deployed, Victoria and him moved to San Diego and George was sent overseas to train soldiers
in communication until 1943. In 1943, George was assigned to the brand new 5th Amphibious
Corps, this unit would specialize in amphibious landings on South Pacific islands. I could do a
whole other essay on the war stories of George, but I must summarize for the sake of this
assignment. George landed on many islands and fought many battles throughout the war, the

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Philippines, Makin Atoll, Tarawa, Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Tinian, Saipan, Marianas turkey shoot,
and lastly Okinawa. When I was 10 years old I recall George telling my father and I a story of
one of the numerous beach landings he had made. George was a Warrant Officer at the time, and
he had to lead a charge. He said I gave the order for my men to follow me and not all of
them made it. That was the only time I ever saw him cry. He won the bronze star 3 times. On
one occasion he fell into a hidden Japanese coastal bunker, when he looked around he saw 20
Japanese soldiers sleeping in their barracks there was an ammunition storage in the bunker as
well. He then grabbed all of his grenades and pulled the pins and ran for an opening. Three days
later he awoke from coma in a Navy hospital and was awarded a Purple Star and a Bronze Star.
Another time George was leading a patrol where they found an entire company of Japanese
soldiers slowly wading up a river during nightfall, he set up an ambush and they waited. George
said he waited till they could hear the clicking of their eyeballs then they opened fire. They
killed every single one. The river was solid red and countless bodies lay face down in the water.
But by far the most shocking story is when George and his unit were pinned down by mortar and
artillery fire. He said it was the worst shelling they ever encountered. George thought that this
was one of the few was that he actually believed that he was going to die. He was not a devout
man of god and he said this was the only time in the whole war where he got down and prayed.
Next to him was a man in the company who was against the belief in god and would call out
other marines for praying. When George knelt down and prayed, the man next to him began
calling George a coward and almost immediately was cut in half by a mortar round. After this
George returned stateside to only have Frank beg to be deployed on the line, this was the last
thing George wanted to hear.

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Okinawa
Frank finally convinced George to recommend him for a transfer in 1944. Soon after
George was redeployed, and in December Frank was transferred to Company B, 1st Battalion,
7th Marines, 1st Marine Division. The most well known Marine Division of the war. Then the
war in Europe ended, Frank was still itching to get to combat. Finally the Marines got word of
the big one, they were told that this would be a very large operation. Frank expressed in a letter
to his sister that they knew that this battle was going to be tremendous and he was very scared.
That was also the last letter Frank ever wrote. On Mothers day, Mrs. Petraitis received two
letters, one from Frank wishing her happy mothers day, the other from Western Union saying
Frank was killed in action on Okinawa. He was 25 when he died , and was acting as a runner, he
was hit by artillery fire. Mr. Petraitis blamed George, saying he got Frank killed and resentment
grew. George felt incredible remorse that I know he must have carried with him for the rest of his
life. It was never his fault he couldnt have done anything, soldiers only die because political
leaders put innocent people in wars. George raised Mike and started a large family he then
moved to Jackson, California where he had a farm with Victoria till he passed in 2010. He was
my relative and so was Frank, and they did what they had to just as any other American had do
during World War 2 so that we could be free, and I will never forget that.

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(George Kane)

(Francis Petraitis)

(Franciss Grave on
Okinawa)

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Sources:
Paula Kane, Chris Kane, Nick Kane, George Kane, Francis Petraitis (letters),
Works cited: https://www.accessgenealogy.com/illinois/illinois-ww2-nmcg-casualty-list-psurnames.htm

http://www.tributes.com/obituary/show/George-Francis-Kane-92901806