Wade Tralla

Wade Anthony Tralla OCEAN ISLE BEACH- Tony Tralla, 86, passed away Oct. 8, 2010 at his daughter's home in Ocean Isle Beach, N.C. Born in Escondido, Calif., Mr. Tralla, left high school at age 17 to join the Navy in August 1940, four months before the attack on Pearl Harbor. He saw action as an apprentice seaman aboard the USS Franklin Bell-a Harris-class attack transport ship-in some of the most crucial battles of the Pacific theater including the Aleutian campaign, Tarawa, Kwajalein, Saipan, Tinian, Leyte and Okinawa. He graduated from Officers' Candidate School in 1956 and was stationed in Boston and Washington, D.C., and in 1962 was at the Guantanamo Bay naval base during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He retired from naval service in 1967 having achieved the rank of lieutenant while in Virginia Beach where he had lived for 20 years. He then served in the U.S. Merchant Marine as a chief engineer on several ships providing equipment and material support to U.S. armed forces in Vietnam during that conflict. He retired from the Merchant Marine in 1994. In 2005 he moved to live with his daughter Judith Franklin in Calabash, N.C., until her passing in 2009 and then resided with his daughter Peggy Gildea (Michael) in Ocean Isle Beach. Mr. Tralla is also survived by his grandson Keith and great-granddaughter Kaitlyn of Brookeville, Md. Mr. Tralla's wife of 44 years, Eileen, predeceased him in 1991. As a Word War II Navy veteran and career officer, he will be interred with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.brunswickfuneralservice.com. Brunswick Funeral Service & Crematory, Shallotte, N.C.