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Nicole Summers, MMFN
to remember
Biesterveld, Thomas Clarence, ENS.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Eau Clair, WI
Casualty Date Feb 24, 1955
Cause MIA-Died in Captivity
Reason Unknown, Not Reported
Location Korea, North
Conflict Korean War
Location of Interment Saint Patricks Cemetery - Eau Claire, Wisconsin
RenamedPrinceton, 21 November 1944, to honor CVL-23, lost in action the previous month. (The name Valley Forge was subsequently assigned to CV-45.)
Sponsored by Mrs. Harold W. Dodds (née Margaret Murray), President of Princeton University.
Reclassified as an "Attack Aircraft Carrier" and redesignated CVA-37, 1 October 1952.
Reclassified as an "Antisubmarine Warfare Support Aircraft Carrier" and redesignated CVS-37, 1 January 1954.
Reclassified as an "Amphibious Assault Ship (Helicopter)" and redesignated LPH-5, 2 March 1959. Converted at Long Beach Naval Shipyard, Long Beach, Calif.
Fate: Sold for scrapping to Zidell Explorations Inc., Portland, Oreg., in September 1972, by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS), for $336,697.99. About 600 tons of her armor plate have been put to use at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.