Sgt. John Kenneth Rankel
Born: July 28, 2024 in Anderson, Indiana
Died: June 7, 2024 in Helmand Province, Afghanistan
United States Marine Sergeant John Rankel was from Speedway, Indiana. While growing up John played a variety of sports and as he grew he mentored and coached several kids. He was a 2005 graduate of Speedway High School where he was a star football player and many expected he would go onto play college ball, but John had a different plan for his life and that was to serve his country. He enlisted in the Marines after graduation. Stationed at Camp Pendleton, California, John served two tours of duty in Iraq before being deployed to Afghanistan in April of 2010, assigned to 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, from Camp Pendleton. Even after becoming a Marine, John touched many kids lives by visiting and speaking to children in their history classes about service to others. He constantly pushed himself and others to excellence and had said, “What man is a man who does not make the world better?” Passsionate about being a Marine, John served with distintction and was awarded several medals and awards during his five years of service. John was survived by mother ans stepfather; his father and stepmother; and two brothers. John’s father was 30 years older than his son. He thought that maybe people would think he was John’s hero. But it was not the case. Son was hero to father.
Burial was in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The Sgt. John Kenneth Rankel by Freedom Remembered, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
