Assigned to the Marine Barracks at the Naval Operating Base, Norfolk, Va., on 3 November 1940, he received promotion to private, 1st class, on 13 June 1941.

Assigned to Company "G," 2d Battalion, he took part in one of the short, sharp encounters with the Japanese near Koli Point, 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Lunga.

On 9 November 1942, although normally a squad leader, Balduck spearheaded his platoon in a frontal assault on a Japanese position, and suffered a fatal wound just as he threw a hand grenade at the enemy.

Balduck's keel was laid down on 17 June 1944 at the Defoe Shipbuilding Company in Bay City, Michigan as a Rudderow-class destroyer escort, designated DE-716.

She then steamed to the Tachen Islands, arriving there on 9 February 1955, where she operated with units of Task Force 77 during the evacuation of Nationalist Chinese soldiers and civilians.

Arriving at Yokosuka, Japan, on 15 September 1955, Balduck cruised in Japanese and Philippine waters, and participated in amphibious landing exercises until returning to San Diego on 23 March 1956.

She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 15 July 1975 and sold for scrapping, 6 December 1976, for $60,000, to National Metal and Steel Corp., Terminal Island, California.