Joseph M. Trecker
World War II
Joe M. Trecker was born near Templeton on July 3, 1921, to Peter and Katherine (Kohorst) Trecker. He became known as Joe M. as there was a Joe J. just a year older. Joe M. attended school in Templeton and graduated from Sacred Heart High School with the class of 1938. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Joe was working in Kansas City, MO and living with Jim Fox and Don Schoeppner from Templeton.
Joe enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on December 26, 1941, in Kansas City. He was assigned serial number MC-338757. He was sent to the USMC Recruit Depot in San Diego, CA for basic training as a part of the 6th Training Battalion. On March 13, 1942, Joe was designated to Marine Aviation and was sent to the Naval Service School at Jacksonville, FL for radio training. There he was part of Training Squadron 2 with the Marine Aviation Detachment.
On July 18, 1942, Joe was promoted to Corporal and sent to Norfolk, VA via Quantico. At Norfolk he attended an advanced radio course at the Naval Service School. With training complete by late 1942, Joe was assigned to Marine Corps Air Station El Toro near Irvine, CA. He was now a technical sergeant.
On May 14, 1943, Joe married Anetha Graves from Manning, IA at St. Matthew’s Church in Long Beach, CA. On July 28 1943, he was promoted to Master Technical Sergeant. He remained at El Toro as NCO in charge of the communications office until July, 1944.
On July 21, 1944, Joe was transferred to Miramar Naval Air Station for overseas duty. He was assigned to Marine Air Group 11 (MAG-11) as an aircraft radio technician. Joe sailed for the Western Pacific on August 8, 1944. MAG-11 had been involved in combat since 1942. When Joe joined the Group, they were involved in battles to take several islands. The island of Peleliu was the site of a major battle with the US finally victorious on November 15, 1944.
Joe’s time was spent primarily on the island of Peleliu, part of Palau. From that island, the US staged attacks on the Philippines and, later, Okinawa and Japan itself. Joe was able to meet with Jim Fox on April 13, 1945, while they both were serving in the area. Joe remained with MAG-11 through the end of the Pacific war on August 15, 1945. By the end of 1945, Joe was on his way back to the United States. He was separated from the Marine Corps as a Master Technical Sergeant (E-8 equivalent) at Great Lakes Training Center near Chicago on January 5, 1946. He remained in the Marine Corps Reserve for at least three years.
Joe returned to Templeton and enrolled in Iowa State College (now University). He graduated with a degree in electrical engineering in 1949. He then accepted a position with Bell Telephone (later Bell Labs) in New Jersey. He remained with Bell until he retired in 1983.
After retirement, Joe and Anetha moved to Arizona where she died in 1997. Joe later was married to Margaret Schneider. Joe died in Arizona on December 29, 2003 at age 82. He was buried in Sacred Heart Cemetery in Templeton.