This Deceased Navy Profile is not currently maintained by any Member.
If you would like to take responsibility for researching and maintaining this Deceased profile please click
HERE
Contact Info
Home Town Richmond
Last Address Bingham
Date of Passing Feb 15, 2010
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
William Bingham
BINGHAM, William Harrison, 88, passed away on February 15, 2010, 65 years to the day after first meeting his wife. He was born in Richmond on March 19, 1921, son of the late Lucien Warner Bingham and Mary Saville Bingham. He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Alma Newell Bingham; his daughters, Kathryn Gorman and her husband, Richard F. Gorman III, of Richmond and Susan Mickey and her husband, John E. Mickey, of Clemmons, North Carolina; three grandchildren, Michael Davis Gorman and William Bingham Gorman of Richmond and Sarah Hollis Mickey of Clemmons, North Carolina and Providence, Rhode Island; his sister, Mary Keith Hinshelwood of Richmond; and his brother, Charles S. Bingham of Largo, Florida. Bill was an Eagle Scout, graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School, and received his degree in chemistry from the University of Richmond. He was commissioned an officer in the U.S. Navy and served in the Pacific in World War II aboard the carrier USS Wasp (CV-18) as a dive bomber and fighter pilot with Dive Bomber Squadron 14 (VB-14). He fought in all the major campaigns of 1944-45, including the Marianas campaign and the liberation of the Philippines. He married in 1945, and in 1946 he brought his bride back to Richmond and joined his father in business at Bingham Truck Service. Upon his father's retirement, he took the sales department and formed his own company, Bingham GMC Trucks. He served as treasurer of the Virginia Highway Users for many years and on the General Motors Dealer Council. He stayed in the Navy Reserve, and led his squadron in Norfolk during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He retired as Commander in 1964. He loved all airplanes and enjoyed his naval career. He was president of the Richmond Jaycees, 1956-1957, the Richmond First Club, 1974-1975, and was chairman of the Community Chest. He served on the board of the Richmond Cerebral Palsy Center for many years, the Richmond Automobile Dealers Association, on the board of the University of Richmond Alumni Association, and as a Sunday School teacher and deacon at the River Road Church, Baptist. He was a longtime member of the Kiwanis Club of Richmond, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Virginia Historical Society, and was a volunteer at the Virginia Aviation Museum. He and Alma traveled the world and enjoyed great adventures. His favorite trip was when they flew an antique Stearman biplane from Kansas City to Richmond. He was a Virginia gentleman and a proud American. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to River Road Church, Baptist, 8000 River Road, Richmond, Va. 23229. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday, February 19, 2010 at River Road Church, Baptist. His family will receive friends at the church following the service.
Published in Richmond Times-Dispatch on February 17, 2010
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.