If you knew or served with this Sailor and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Contact Info
Home Town Born Oakland, raised in Salinas, CA
Date of Passing Jan 11, 2013
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Nori entered Johns Hopkins University and graduated in 1956. In his four years at the University he enjoyed being a member of and Chapter President of the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity. He graduated with B.S. in Biological Sciences and was about to start Medical School when his life took a different turn. He walked into the Baltimore Post Office and met a Navy Chief and a Marine Sargent and two weeks later, he found himself standing on the tarmac at Whiting Field, Florida.
He was commissioned as an Ensign in October 1957 and assigned to flight training in Pensacola, where he earned his Naval Aviator wings and was assigned to fly AD-6 SKYRAIDERs at NAS Alameda.
Captain Endo's operational assignments included Attack Squadron VA-95 on the USS Ranger home ported at NAS Alameda, Training Squadron VT-28, Corpus Christi, Texas, VA-215 BarnOwls on the USS Hancock, CVA-19 where he served two tours in Vietnam and later a tour in the Mediterranean flying A-4's on the USS Roosevelt.
His shore assignments included attending, the U.S. Naval War College, Command and Staff College, Newport, Rhode Island, U. S. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA earning a Masters in Aeronautical Engineering, CINPACFLT, San Diego, Commanding Officer, Naval Plant Representative Office at Grumman Corporation Bethpage, NY, Project Manager for the F-14 TOMCAT/Phoenix Program, Naval Air Systems command, Crystal City, VA.
From 1978 to 1980, Captain Endo was Commanding Officer, Navy Plant Representative Office (NPRO) at Grumman Aircraft Corporation in Bethpage, NY where he had oversight responsibility to ensure that the highly sophisticated and complex F-14 aircraft and accompanying Phoenix missile system were manufactured and delivered on-time, on-cost and of the of the highest quality providing for Naval aircrews a weapons system of unmatched combat performance. As he oversaw this multi-billion dollar aircraft and missile development and production corporation, CAPT Endo was acknowledged as the consummate NPRO officer possessing that unique blend of inspirational leadership, and an extensive background in engineering, manufacturing, contracting and quality assurance expertise --all tied together with a natural instinct to know and do the right thing.
From August 1980 through December 1983, CAPT Endo was the program manager for the Navy's premier and now legendary aircraft - the F14 Tomcat - a supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft capable of long-range and simultaneously intercept and attack of six targets with its powerful Track-While Scan (TWS) and six AIM-54 Phoenix missiles. During this time, CAPT ENDO had cradle-to-grave management responsibility for over 300 F-14 aircraft, and was transformative in his management style and technique by instituting the then essentially unknown Integrated Program Team (IPT) - now considered standard practice. Because of the upgrade and enhancement programs that he initiated or incorporated, the F-14 Tomcat has served the true test of time - a 1970's developed aircraft still considered critical to the success of Operations Allied Force, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.
Awards and Decorations: Distinguished Flying Cross, 12 Individual Air Medals, Legion of Merit, Navy Commendation Medal with Combat V and Gold Star in lieu of second Award, (of another Distinguished Flying Cross), Vietnam Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and an Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal.
He was promoted to the rank of Navy Captain (0-6) distinguishing himself as one of only a few Japanese-American pilots to reach that rank.
After retiring from the Navy in January 1984, he joined Grumman Aerospace Corporation and was assigned to their Tokyo, Japan office for five years. Nori was able to thrive and form a great deal of trust and understanding in a time of guarded East-West relations. Grumman was awarded a large contract with the Japanese government during this time but his greatest personal accomplishment while in Japan was the birth of the Japanese Lacrosse Association.
Other Comments:
Norio "Nori" Bruce Endo was born in Oakland, CA on April 4, 1934 and was the oldest of three sons to Kikuo and Lily Endo. He was raised in Salinas, CA until World War II at which time his entire family was interned in Poston, AZ Relocation Camp #2. After release from the relocation camp with his parents and younger brothers, the family moved to Minneapolis, MN for one year and then to Riverdale, MD where he attended Calvert Holmes Elementary School and Riverdale Junior High School. This is when Nori showed his first love of flying by building and flying balsa wood aircraft models.
During his early school years Nori was actively involved with the Boy Scouts and achieved Eagle Scout while a member of University Park Scout Troop 214. Nori graduated from McKinley High School in Washington, DC in 1952.
Nori was an active member of the United States Naval Academy Protestant Congregation and supported, along with his wife Ruth, the "Fisherman's Table"; a monthly fellowship gathering for Naval Academy Chapel Service attendees and Midshipmen. A Celebration of Nori's life was held at the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel. Internment was at Arlington National Cemetery.
Request for assistance, on any dates of commands listed. Thank you.
She was decommissioned in early 1976, and sold for scrap later that year.
Construction and commissioning The ship was laid down as Ticonderoga on 26 January 1943 by Bethlehem Steel Co., Quincy, Mass. It was renamed Hancock 1 May 1943 in response to an offer from the John Hancock life insurance company to conduct a special bond drive to raise money for the ship if that name was used. (The shipyard is in the company's home state.) The company's bond drive raised enough money to both build the ship and operate it for the first year.[2] The ship was launched 24 January 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Theodore Douglas Robinson. Hancock was commissioned 15 April 1944, with Captain Fred C. Dickey in command.
Hancock got underway the following afternoon for a rendezvous point 375 nmi (690 km) west of theMarianas where units of Vice Admiral Mitscher's Fast Carrier Task Force 38 (TF 38) were assembling in preparation for the daring cruise to raid Japanese air and sea bases in the Ryūkyūs, Formosa, and thePhilippines. Thus enemy air power was paralyzed during General MacArthur's invasion of Leyte. When the armada arrived off the Ryukyu Islands on 10 October 1944,Hancock's planes rose off her deck to wreak destruction upon Okinawanairfields and shipping. Her planes destroyed seven enemy aircraft on the ground and assisted in the destruction of a submarine tender, 12 torpedo boats, 2 midget submarines, four cargo ships, and a number ofsampans. Next on the agenda were Formosan air bases where on 12 October Hancock's pilots downed six enemy planes and destroyed nine more on the ground. She also reported one cargo ship definitely sunk, three probably destroyed, and several others damaged.
As they repelled an enemy air raid that evening, Hancock's gunners accounted for a Japanese plane and drove off countless others during seven hours of uninterrupted general quarters. The following morning her planes resumed their assault, knocking out ammunition dumps,hangars, barracks, and industrial plants ashore and damaging an enemy transport. As Japanese planes again attacked the Americans during their second night off Formosa, Hancock's antiaircraft fire brought down another raider which crashed about 500 yd (460 m) off her flight deck. On the morning of the third day of operations against this enemy stronghold Hancock lashed out again at airfields and shipping before retiring to the southeast with her task force. As the American ships withdrew a heavy force of Japanese aircraft roared in for a parting crack. One dropped a bomb off Hancock's port bow a few seconds before being hit by the carrier's guns and crashing into the sea. Another bomb penetrated a gun platform but exploded harmlessly in the water. The surviving attackers then turned tail, and the task force was thereafter unmolested as they sailed toward the Philippines to support the landings at Leyte.
On 18 October, she launched planes against airfields and shipping at Laoag, Aparri, and Camiguin Island in Northern Luzon. Her planes struck the islands of Cebu, Panay, Negros, and Masbate, pounding enemy airfields and shipping. The next day, she retired toward Ulithi with Vice Admiral John S. McCain, Sr.'s TG 38.1.
She received orders on 23 October to turn back to the area off Samar to assist in the search for units of the Japanese fleet reportedly closing Leyte to challenge the American fleet, and to destroy amphibious forces which were struggling to take the island from Japan. Hancock did not reach Samar in time to assist the heroic escort carriers and destroyers of "Taffy 3" during the main action of the Battle off Samar, but her planes did manage to lash the fleeing Japanese Center Force as it passed through the San Bernardino Strait. Hancock then rejoined Rear Admiral Bogan's Task Group with which she struck airfields and shipping in the vicinity of Manila on 29 October 1944. During operations through 19 November, her planes gave direct support to advancing Army troops and attacked Japanese shipping over a 350 mi (560 km) area. She became flagship of the Fast Carrier Task Force (TF 38) on 17 November 1944 when Admiral McCain came on board.
Unfavorable weather prevented operations until 25 November, when a kamikaze roared toward Hancock, diving out of the sun. Antiaircraft fire exploded the plane some 300 ft (90 m) above the ship, but a section of its fuselage landed amid ships, and a part of the wing hit the flight deck and burst into flames. Prompt and skillful teamwork quickly extinguished the blaze and prevented serious damage.
Hancock returned to Ulithi on 27 November and departed from that island with her task group to maintain air patrol over enemy airfields on Luzon to prevent kamikazes from attacking amphibious vessels of the landing force in Mindoro. The first strikes were launched on 14 December againstClark and Angeles Airfields as well as enemy ground targets on Salvador Island. The next day her planes struck installations at Masinloc, San Fernando, and Cabanatuan, while fighter patrols kept the Japanese airmen down. Her planes also attacked shipping in Manila Bay.
Hancock encountered a severe typhoon on 17 December and rode out the storm in waves which broke over her flight deck, some 55 ft (20 m) above her waterline. She put into Ulithi 24 December and got underway six days later to attack airfields and shipping around the South China Sea. Her planes struck hard blows at Luzon airfields on 7-8 January 1945 and turned their attention back to Formosa on 9 January, hitting fiercely at airfields and the Toko Seaplane Station . An enemy convoy north of Camranh Bay, Indochina was the next victim, with two ships sunk and 11 damaged. That afternoon Hancock launched strikes against airfields at Saigon and shipping on the northeastern bulge of French Indochina. Strikes by the fast and mobile carrier force continued through 16 January, hitting Hainan Island in the Gulf of Tonkin, the Pescadores Islands, and shipping in the harbor of Hong Kong. Raids against Formosa were resumed on 20 January. The next afternoon one of her planes returning from a sortie made a normal landing, taxied to a point abreast of the island, and disintegrated in a blinding explosion which killed 50 men and injured 75 others. Again outstanding work quickly brought the fires under control in time to land other planes which were still aloft. She returned to formation and launched strikes against Okinawa the next morning.
Hancock reached Ulithi on 25 January where Admiral McCain left the ship and relinquished command of the 5th Fleet. She sortied with the ships of her task group on 10 February and launched strikes against airfields in the vicinity of Tokyo on 16 February. On that day, her air group, Air Group 80, downed 71 enemy planes, and accounted for 12 more the next. Her planes hit the enemy naval bases at Chichi Jima and Haha Jima on 19 February. These raids were conducted to isolate Iwo Jima from air and sea support when Marines hit the beaches of that island to begin one of the most bloody and fierce campaigns of the war. Hancock took station off this island to provide tactical support through 22 February, hitting enemy airfields and strafing Japanese troops ashore.
Returning to waters off the enemy home islands, Hancock launched her planes against targets on northern Honshū, making a diversionary raid on the Nansei-shoto islands on 1 March before returning to Ulithi on 4 March.
Back in Japanese waters Hancock joined other carriers in strikes against Kyūshū airfields, southwestern Honshū and shipping in the Inland Sea of Japan on 18 March. Hancock was refueling destroyer USS Halsey Powell (DD-686) on 20 March when kamikazes attacked the task force. One plane dove for the two ships but was disintegrated by gunfire when about 700 ft (210 m) overhead. Fragments of the plane hit Hancock's deck while its engine and bomb crashed the fantail of the destroyer. Hancock's gunners shot down another plane as it neared the release point of its bombing run on the carrier.
Hancock was reassigned to Carrier TG 58.3 with which she struck the Nansei-shoto islands from 23- 27 March and Minami Daito Island and Kyūshū at the end of the month.
When the 10th Army landed on the western coast of Okinawa on 1 April, Hancock was on hand to provide close air support. A kamikaze cartwheeled across her flight deck on 7 April and crashed into a group of planes while its bomb hit the port catapult to cause a tremendous explosion. Although 62 men were killed and 71 wounded, heroic efforts doused the fires within half an hour enabling her to be back in action before an hour had passed.
Hancock was detached from her task group on 9 April and steamed to Pearl Harbor for repairs. She sailed back into action 13 June and left lethal calling cards at Wake Island on 20 June en route to the Philippines. Hancock sailed from San Pedro Bay with the other carriers on 1 July and attacked Tokyo airfields on 10 July. She continued to operate in Japanese waters until she received confirmation of Japan's capitulation on 15 August 1945 when she recalled her planes from their deadly missions before they reached their targets. However planes of her photo division were attacked by seven enemy aircraft over Sagami Wan. Three were shot down and a fourth escaped in a trail of smoke. Later that afternoon planes of Hancock's air patrol shot down a Japanese torpedo plane as it dived on a British task force. Her planes flew missions over Japan in search of prison camps, dropping supplies and medicine, on 25 August. Information collected during these flights led to landings under command of Commodore R. W. Simpson which brought doctors and supplies to all Allied prisoner of war encampments.
When the formal surrender of the Japanese government was signed on board battleship Missouri, Hancock's planes flew overhead. The carrier entered Tokyo Bay on 10 September 1945 and sailed on 30 September embarking 1,500 passengers at Okinawa for transportation toSan Pedro, California, where she arrived on 21 October. Hancock was fitted out for Operation Magic Carpet duty at San Pedro and sailed for Seeadler Harbor, Manus, Admiralty Islands on 2 November. On her return voyage she carried 4,000 passengers who were debarked at San Diego on 4 December. A week later Hancock departed for her second Magic Carpet voyage, embarking 3,773 passengers at Manila for return to Alameda, California on 20 January 1946. She embarked Air Group 7 at San Diego on 18 February for air operations off the coast of California. She sailed from San Diego on 11 March to embark men of two air groups and aircraft at Pearl Harbor for transportation to Saipan, arriving on 1 April. After receiving two other air groups on board at Saipan, she loaded a cargo of aircraft at Guam and steamed by way of Pearl Harbor to Alameda, arriving on 23 April. She then steamed to Seattle, Washington on 29 April to await inactivation. The proud ship decommissioned and entered the reserve fleet at Bremerton, Washington.
Pacific Fleet
Hancock commenced the SCB-27C conversion and modernization to an attack aircraft carrier inPuget Sound 15 December 1951 and was reclassified CVA-19 on 1 October 1952. She recommissioned on 15 February 1954, Captain W. S. Butts in command. She was the first carrier of the United States Fleet with steam catapults capable of launching high performance jets.
She was off San Diego on 7 May 1954 for operations along the coast of California that included the 17 June launching of the first aircraft to take off a United States carrier by means of a steam catapult. After a year of operations along the Pacific coast that included testing of Sparrow I andRegulus missiles and Cutlass jet aircraft, she sailed on 10 August 1955 for 7th Fleet operations ranging from the shores of Japan to the Philippines and Okinawa. She returned to San Diego on 15 March 1956 and decommissioned on 13 April for her SCB-125 conversion that included the installation of an angled flight deck.
Hancock recommissioned on 15 November 1956 for training out of San Diego until 6 April 1957, when she again sailed for Hawaii and the Far East. She returned to San Francisco on 18 September 1957 and again departed for Japan on 15 February 1958. She was a unit of powerful carrier task groups taking station off Taiwan when the Nationalist Chinese islands of Quemoyand Matsu were threatened with Communist invasion in August 1959. The carrier returned to San Francisco on 2 October for overhaul in theSan Francisco Naval Shipyard, followed by rigorous at sea training out of San Diego. On 1 August 1959, she sailed to reinforce the 7th Fleet as troubles in Laos demanded the watchful presence of powerful American forces in water off southeast Asia. She returned to San Francisco on 18 January 1960 and put to sea early in February to participate in a new demonstration of communications by reflecting ultra-high-frequencywaves off the moon. She again departed in August to steam with the 7th Fleet in waters off Laos until lessening of tension in that area permitted operations ranging from Japan to the Philippines.
Hancock returned to San Francisco in March 1961, then entered the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for an overhaul that gave her new electronics gear and many other improvements. She again set sail for Far Eastern waters on 2 February 1962, patrolling in the South China Sea as crisis and strife mounted both in Laos and in South Vietnam. She again appeared off Quemoy and Matsu in June to stem a threatened Communist invasion there, then trained along the coast of Japan and in waters reaching to Okinawa. She returned to San Francisco on 7 October, made a brief cruise to the coast of Hawaii while qualifying pilots then again sailed on 7 June 1963 for the Far East.
Hancock joined in combined defense exercises along the coast of South Korea, then deployed off the coast of South Vietnam after the coup which resulted in the death of President Diem. She entered the Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard on 16 January 1964 for modernization that included installation of a new ordnance system, hull repairs, and aluminum decking for her flight deck. She celebrated her 20th birthday on 2 June while visiting San Diego. The carrier made a training cruise to Hawaii, then departed Alameda on 21 October for another tour of duty with the 7th Fleet in the Far East.
Vietnam War
Hancock reached Japan on 19 November and soon was on patrol at Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin. She remained active in Vietnamese waters until heading for home early in the spring of 1965.
November found the carrier steaming back to the war zone. She was on patrol off Vietnam on 16 December; and, but for brief respites at Hong Kong, the Philippines, or Japan, Hancock remained on station launching her planes for strikes at enemy positions ashore until returning to Alameda on 1 August 1966. Her outstanding record during this combat tour won her the Navy Unit Commendation.
Following operations off the West Coast, Hancock returned to Vietnam early in 1967 and resumed her strikes against Communist positions. After fighting during most of the first half of 1967, she returned to Alameda on 22 July and promptly began preparations for returning to battle.
In the summer of 1969 she was back in Alameda preparing for yet another deployment to southeast Asia. In July, while in pre-deployment night landing exercises, an F-8 came in too low and crashed into the round-down splitting the aircraft into two pieces which hurtled down the deck and erupted in a massive fuel fed fire. While no lives were lost, damage to the flight deck was extensive, resulting in a frenetic 24/7 repair effort to be ready by the deployment date.
Aircraft from Hancock, along with those from Ranger and Oriskany, joined with other planes for air strikes against North Vietnamese missile and antiaircraft sites south of the 19th parallel in response to attacks on unarmed U.S. reconnaissance aircraft on 21-22 November 1970 (Operation Freedom Bait). Hancock alternated with Ranger and Kitty Hawk on Yankee Station until 10 May 1971, when she was relieved byMidway.
(For more reading see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Hancock_(CVA-19) )
Other Memories Captain Endo's operational assignments included Attack Squadron VA-95 on the USS Ranger home ported at NAS Alameda, Training Squadron VT-28, Corpus Christi, Texas, VA-215 Barn Owls on the USS Hancock, CVA-19 where he served two tours in Vietnam and later a tour in the Mediterranean flying A-4's on the USS Roosevelt.
From 1978 to 1980, Captain Endo was Commanding Officer, Navy Plant Representative Office (NPRO) at Grumman Aircraft Corporation in Bethpage, NY where he had oversight responsibility to ensure that the highly sophisticated and complex F-14 aircraft and accompanying Phoenix missile system were manufactured and delivered on-time, on-cost and of the of the highest quality providing for Naval aircrews a weapons system of unmatched combat performance. As he oversaw this multi-billion dollar aircraft and missile development and production corporation, CAPT Endo was acknowledged as the consummate NPRO officer possessing that unique blend of inspirational leadership, and an extensive background in engineering, manufacturing, contracting and quality assurance expertise --all tied together with a natural instinct to know and do the right thing. 
