John W. Turner Jr. served in the U.S. Army as a Major with the 515th Coast Artillery Regiment (The New Mexico Brigade) during World War II. He went missing in action and was declared dead on December 15, 1944. He is memorialized at the Bataan Memorial Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines. He was awarded the Purple Heart.
