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Tommy Burgdorf (Birddog), FC2
to remember
Check, Leonard Joseph, LCDR.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Williston, ND
Last Address 845 B Ave Coronado, CA (Wife Margaret P. Check)
Casualty Date Jan 04, 1945
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Air Loss, Crash - Sea
Location Pacific
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Honolulu Memorial - Honolulu, Hawaii
Description The Battle of Surigao Strait took place here on October 25, 1944, when the "cross the T" incident took place as American battleships fire their guns over Vice Admiral Shoji Nishimura's Southern Force; nearly all of which, including the battleships Yamashiro and Fusi and others were sunk. Admiral Nishimura was killed in action when his flagship Yamashiro sank following actions against Jesse B. Oldendorf's battleships, all but one of which had been at Pearl Harbor.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
October / 1944
To Month/Year
October / 1944
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories She departed Boston on 31 July en route to Pearl Harbor via the Panama Canal and San Diego, and from there sailed on 24 September to join Admiral W. F. Halsey's 3rd Fleet at Ulithi on 5 October. She was assigned to Rear Admiral Gerald F. Bogan's Carrier Task Group 38.2 (TG 38.2).
Hancock got underway the following afternoon for a rendezvous point 375 nmi (690 km) west of the Marianas 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 Ryûkyûs, Formosa, and the Philippines. 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 Okinawan airfields 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 of sampans. 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.
