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Diane (TWS Admin) Short, SA
to remember
Hammill, Don (Salty Sam), SO1.
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Contact Info
Date of Passing Dec 21, 2012
Location of Interment Utah State Veterans Cemetery - Bluffdale, Utah
I AM NOW VICE PRESIDENT OF MEMBERSHIP & DEVELOPMENT,
UTAH COUNCIL NAVY LEAGUE OF THE UNITED STATES
Unofficial US NAVY CERTIFICATES
COLD WAR CERTIFICATE
GOLDEN DRAGON CERTIFICATE
Per the National Cemetery Administration........
HAMMILL, DON E
SO1 US NAVY
WORLD WAR II
DATE OF BIRTH: 02/04/1923
DATE OF DEATH: 12/21/2012
BURIED AT: SECTION A-1 ROW D SITE 1
UTAH STATE VETERANS CEMETERY
Other Comments:
Hammill, a native of Salt Lake City, enlisted into the U.S. Navy in January, 1942, at the age of 18. After basic training and sonar school he was assigned to the crew of the APD-17 U.S.S. Crosby. Converted into a swift, amphibious attack vessel designed to deliver shock troops into battle, the Crosby was an old World War I destroyer brought out of mothballs. Painted in garish green-splotched camouflage, it joined 4 other ships of its class to create an amphibious warfare task force called TRANSDIV 22, "The Green Dragons." Hammill and his crewmates saw tremendous action during 17 amphibious landings in the South Pacific that included the islands of Guadalcanal, New Guinea, New Georgia, New Britian, Bouganville, Hollandia, Leyte, Luzon, Manila Bay, Corregidor and Okinawa. Their duties ranged from landing Army Rangers and Marines ashore, anti-submarine patrol, radar picket duty, recovering shipwrecked sailors, to shore bombardment and fire support. It was during operations off of Bouganville Island on November 17, 1943 that Hammill survived through one of his most memorable days of combat. Hammill was manning his battle-stations post at an anti-aircraft gun on the bridge. The Crosby was under a vicious strafing and dive-bombing by two Japanese aircraft. Witnesses report that Hammill fired with deadly accuracy at a low-flying bomber that was starting a Kamikazi attack on his vessel. Sonarman Hammill opened up his 20mm gun emptying a full magazine into the enemy plane. His shells tore apart the enemy's cockpit causing the aircraft to veer up radically barely missing the ship's bridge before plunging into the sea. Hammill sailed and fought on his ship for 23 consecutive months. At war's end, he came home to Salt Lake City and earned a Law Degree from the University of Utah.
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Okinawa Gunto Operation
From Month/Year
March / 1945
To Month/Year
June / 1945
Description The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg. was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were approaching Japan, and planned to use Okinawa, a large island only 340 mi (550 km) away from mainland Japan, as a base for air operations on the planned invasion of Japanese mainland (coded Operation Downfall). Four divisions of the U.S. 10th Army (the 7th, 27th, 77th, and 96th) and two Marine Divisions (the 1st and 6th) fought on the island. Their invasion was supported by naval, amphibious, and tactical air forces.
The battle has been referred to as the "typhoon of steel" in English, and tetsu no ame ("rain of steel") or ("violent wind of steel") in Japanese. The nicknames refer to the ferocity of the fighting, the intensity of kamikaze attacks from the Japanese defenders, and to the sheer numbers of Allied ships and armored vehicles that assaulted the island. The battle resulted in the highest number of casualties in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Based on Okinawan government sources, mainland Japan lost 77,166 soldiers, who were either killed or committed suicide, and the Allies suffered 14,009 deaths (with an estimated total of more than 65,000 casualties of all kinds). Simultaneously, 42,000–150,000 local civilians were killed or committed suicide, a significant proportion of the local population. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki together with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria caused Japan to surrender less than two months after the end of the fighting on Okinawa.
.png?ixlib=java-2.3.0&w=100&s=c49280a91b79826dbff47dc198f1bbf0 "Honorable Discharge Emblem (WWII)")
