Tag: OKINAWA
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Louis Veesenmeyer S1/c KIA by kamikaze 11 May 1945
Louis J. Veesenmeyer S2/c – Louis was born on 5 February 1923. He grew up in Chicago with 6 brothers and 4 sisters. The depression years were especially hard for a family with 11 children. During the war, Louis and four of his brothers joined the armed services. Elmer – Navy, Ray – Coast Guard,…
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Leo A. Nicholas GM2/c – Service # 2020619.
Story also posted on Fold3.com Leo Nicholas survived one sinking but was KIA by a kamikaze on the USS Hadley. Leo Arnold Nicholas was among the thousands of young men who enlisted in the Navy after the attack at Pearl Harbor. He was born February 20, 1917, in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He was 24 when he…
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Bob Bell recalls the Black Widow night fighter
Bob Bell was a sonarman on the USS Hadley. He shared an updated story recently. On the night of 10-11 May 1945, a Night Fighter plane based at Okinawa was scrambled to intercept a Japanese patrol plane/bomber 75 miles out. Bell was on mid-watch outside the sonar room. “I had the mid-watch from midnight of…
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New book includes Hadley battle at Okinawa
I met Ron MacKay at the LSM/LSMR Association Reunion in Buffalo. My father served on LSMR 411. Ron has authored the book “The U.S. Navy’s Interim LSMRs in WWII”. He shared the following excerpt from his book describing the scene on 11 May 1945 after the Hadley’s famous battle. Ensign Paul S. Vaitses, Jr., the…