Sgt. Maj. Ben Munar, U. S. Army, Retired

Sgt. Major Ben Munar, U. S. Army, Retired, passed away at Gulfport Memorial Hospital on Tuesday October 30, 2012. Ben has been a resident of Biloxi, Mississippi for the last 17 years with his wife of 18 years, Vera M. Munar. Ben was born November 27, 1930 in Honolulu in the Territory of Hawaii to Mr. Pedro V. Munar and his wife Pelieya Costales. Ben was eleven years old at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7th, 1941, and watched the attack from the hills overlooking the harbor. Ben joined the United States Army in 1950 upon the opening of hostilities in South Korea. On March 10, 1951 while advancing with his company under heavy artillery and small arms fire toward an objective he was wounded by shrapnel in five places. For his actions on that day he was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor Device and the Purple Heart. Sgt. Major Munar stayed in the Army and served in Vietnam before retiring in 1971. Ben was a Life Member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Oswald Fayard Post #6731 and a member of the Fleur de Lis Society on Howard Avenue, Biloxi. Ben was the bugler for Post 6731 and Lyman C. Bradford Jr. Post 2434 Honor Guards as well as a member of the VFW Mississippi State Honor Guard. Ben is survived by his wife Vera, by his daughter Janna Munar of California, his son Ben C. Munar, Jr. of Oahu, Hawaii, and his youngest daughter Nalani Palamino of San Jose, California, his stepson Vincent Scanlan of Hawaii, as well as his five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his brother Wilford of Oahu, Hawaii. Sgt Major Munar’s ashes will be returned to Hawaii to be interred next to his first wife, Betty Lou Munar and his infant son, Brian Keith Munar in Section R, Site 388, National Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl. Visitation is Monday, November 5, 2012, from 1:00 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. at Bradford-O’Keefe Funeral Home, 2511 Pass Road, in Biloxi. Full military honors will be held at Biloxi National Cemetery at 2:30 p.m.