Claude Roy Kirk, Jr. (World War II, Korea) is a Notable burial at https://www.cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/southflorida.asp. 

Kirk was born in San Bernardino, CA in 1926. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve after high school and rose to the rank of second lieutenant serving stateside in World War II. He earned a bachelors degree from Duke University and graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law in Tuscaloosa in 1949. 

He was recalled to the Marines during the Korean War and served with the 1st Marine Division and then aboard the battleship USS New Jersey. He was discharged in 1952 as a first lieutenant, and started a successful insurance firm in Jacksonville, Florida in the late 1950s. Kirk changed his party affiliation to Republican in 1960 and, after losing a bid for a U.S. Senate seat in 1964, won the Florida governorship in 1966—the first Republican governor in the state since Reconstruction. 

He held the office for one term, from 1967 until 1971, earning the nickname “Claudius Maximus” for his brash, colorful personality.  

*The preceding content is not intended as a comprehensive biography, but it highlights their significance as a result of military or civilian distinction, lasting achievements, or association with impactful national events. 

CLAUDE ROY KIRK JR

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