Raymond Pennington was born in 1924 in Colorado. He worked at the Torrance Laundry and the Shell Service Station on Carson Street, served for a short time in the California National Guard, and then enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps on July 22, 1941 for a term of four years. He arrived in Pearl Harbor in early November 1941 after completing training at the Marine Corps Base in San Diego.

Private Pennington was killed in action on December 7, 1941 while attached to the Marine Detachment on the USS Oklahoma. This vessel was moored in berth Fox 5 on “Battleship Row” when it was attacked by Japanese planes and sunk with a loss of 429 sailors and Marines.

He was 17 years old when he died, was awarded the Purple Heart, and was eventually interred in the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno beside his father who had served in the U.S. Navy.