Squadron Killed in Action

Echoes From Off Samar

"Remember me" from the distant past the faint, haunting voices still echo from off Samar. "Remember me" they echo again and again. But they say nothing of the fear and agony and boredom and loneliness and anxiety and nightmare. Or of the bomb blasts, the whining bullets and screaming shells. But all is now calm with them as on the first day of Eden.

Well why not? They earned their rest. On angry seas and in hostile skies, they waited and watched and dodged and swerved and attacked and retreated praying, "not me, not me" when the Almighty reached out to touch them.
They knew it all, the terrifying noise and the equally terrifying silence, the roaring flames, the buddy’s shattered face, the blood gushing from the stump of an arm or leg, the anguish at the first sight of death.
Who would disturb them now with memories of war?
And yet, if they could speak, surely each would say, "Do not let my sacrifice be forgotten. If you cannot remember the loves that never came, the children who never were, the dreams unfulfilled, or the life unlived, at least remember my name."

"This one small thing, I ask of you!!"

In memory of the 985 men lost in action from Task Unit77.4.3 (Taffy 3) on October 25, 1944


Copyright © 2010 Evan Hollis Crawforth, All rights reserved

James W. Armstrong ARM2c Elmer O. Aycock AMM1c James L. Boyter Ens. Frank G. Bristol ARM2c George H. Cole ACMM Stanley H. Cook Lieut Arthur G. Crittenden S2c Hervey P. Dale Lt.(jg) Larry L. Davis STM1c Harold H. Foote, Jr. ARM2c William Heinrich, Jr. AOM3c Ralph M. Jones Lt. Cdr. Joseph J. Loebe ARM3c Charles A. McClary AMM3c Pierce D. Mooney Lieut. Mason H. Moore S1c

Clarence H. Peterson AMM2c Joseph T. Riley Lieut Artemus J. Schell Capt., U. S. Army George W. Schuncke Lieut. Jack L. Shepler AMM2c Millage L. Short ACOM James E. Smith AMM2c Thaddeus P. Soja ARM3c John H. Stein ARM2c Victor C. Taber AMM3c Robert P. Taylor AMM2c Roy B.Welch AMM3c L. F. Woodhouse Ens. Robert W. Wrinch Lt.(jg) Eugene W. Zepth AMM1c

Ship's Company Killed In Action

Memorial at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego
Dedicated to those who gave their lives for our freedom.

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