Private First Class Leslie C. Banaka

World War II US Army 602nd Tank Destroyer Battalion Service Number: 37340299 Born: February 16, 1909 Inducted: December 28, 1942 Killed in action February 21, 1945 in Luxembourg Buried: Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, Plot E, Row 16, Grave 44, Belgium Purple Heart

Son of August H. and Anna Bell Banaka of Wray. Brother of PVT Samuel Banaka who was KIA Jul 12, 1944 in France.

Wray Gazette March 15, 1945

Leslie Banaka is Casualty in Luxemburg
Second Son of Mrs. Anna Bell Banaka is Killed in Europe.

A war department telegram, received here March 5, told of the death in action of Pfc. Leslie Banaka, 36, a son of Mrs. Anna Bell Banaka who is now employed at Hoquiam, Washington, the second time within a year that Mrs. Banaka has given a son in the service of his country. Leslie Banaka was born in Kansas and later made his home in Yuma County attending the Cement school. He enlisted two years ago and was serving with a tank division and had been overseas for nine months. His brother Sam Banaka, was killed in France in July of last year.

Three other boys of the Banaka family are also in service. Harold and Kenneth are in the Army, the former now in the Philippines and the later in Germany, and Walter is in the Navy in the South Pacific. Donald is with his mother. Three sisters also survive. They are Mrs. Alta Winters, Washington; Mrs. Ethel Jones who lives in Nebraska and Mrs. Marjorie Miner of north of Wray.

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