In late November 1942 at age 16, when J A was a high school senior, he enlisted in the US Navy . No one knows how he managed to falsify his age at enlistment. He was trained as a Navy corpsman for service with the Marine Corps. J A was killed in action during the invasion of Tarawa on November 20, 1943 at age 17. He was reburied in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (the Punchbowl) in Honolulu on the island of Oahu, Hawaii on March 14, 1949 (SECTION F  SITE 805).

J A had no names associated with his initials. However, he gave his name to the Navy as "J A Hale, Jr". His father was "Joseph Allen Hale". J A was not known within his family as a "Jr."