This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Tommy Burgdorf (Birddog), FC2
to remember
Dart, George Leonard, SSM3c.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Sault Ste, Marie MI
Last Address 905 Cedar St Sault Ste, Marie MI (Wife-Lena M. Dart)
Casualty Date May 03, 1945
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Artillery, Rocket, Mortar
Location Pacific Ocean
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Riverside Cemetery - Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan
Memories Between commissioning and the end of January 1945, AARON WARD completed fitting out and conducted her shakedown cruise off the California coast. On 9 February, she departed San Pedro bound for Pearl Harbor where she arrived on 15 February. The warship conducted additional training in Hawaiian waters before loading supplies and ammunition and getting underway on 5 March to join the 5th Fleet at Ulithi. She entered the lagoon of that atoll in the Western Carolines on 16 March but put to sea again on the 19th with Task Force (TF) 52 bound for the Ryukyu Islands. The Mine Flotilla, of which AARON WARD was a unit, arrived off Okinawa late on the 22d. The following day, the destroyer minelayer got her first glimpse of the enemy when some of his planes approached the sweep group but did not attack. More came in later, but the combined gunfire of the group dissuaded them from approaching close enough to harm the American ships. The first actual air raid occurred on the 26th, and ADAMS (DM-27) knocked the intruder out of the sky.
