John Ross, a native of New York, moved with his family to Medfield in 1939. A month after he graduated with honors from Medfield High School in 1943, he joined the U.S. Coast Guard and eventually attained the rank of signalman third class. He participated in the Battle of Okinawa, the longest, bloodiest battle in the Pacific Theater in World War II. He was injured when a Japanese kamikaze pilot hit his landing craft, and he died June 4, 1945, about two months before the war's end. A service of remembrance was held for him at the Second Congregational Church in Medfield on August 19, 1945, four days after Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's surrender. His remains were transferred from Okinawa to the Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale, New York, on February 15, 1949.