This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Tim Addington, GM3
to remember
Addington, Norman Eston, Jr., FC3c.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Grand Rapids, MI
Last Address Grand Rapids, MI
Casualty Date Oct 25, 1944
Cause KIA-Body Not Recovered
Reason Lost At Sea-Unrecovered
Location Pacific Ocean
Conflict World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Leyte Campaign (1944)/Battle of Samar
Location of Interment Manila American Cemetery - Taguig City, Philippines
Norman was on this USS Hole from the time of Commissioning in July 1943 till the sinking and his death in Oct 25, 1944. Ancestry.com collection of US Navy Muster Reports reflects his arrival and advancement on the ship for almost every month between these dates.
Oct 25, 1944 The USS Hole DD-533
When the Japanese Navy counter-attacked to produce the decisive Battle of Leyte Gulf, she was operating north of Leyte. A powerful enemy surface force encountered her task group east of Samar on the morning of 25 October, and Hoel and other destroyers valiantly attacked them with guns and torpedoes in order to cover the escort carriers' retreat. Though Hoel was sunk in this Battle off Samar, with the loss of nearly three-quarters of her crew, one which was Norman Eddington, Jr, her sacrifice helped to save all but one of the escort carriers and to deflect the Japanese from their mission of attacking the Leyte invasion force.
Comments/Citation:
Promted from Seaman 1st Class Firecontrolman (S1c fc) to Fire Controlman Ranger Finder 3rd class petty officer (FCR3c) on 1 June 1944.
Memorial Monuments At:
Fort William McKinley / Fort Bonifacio Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery
Manila, Philippines
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Northern Solomon Islands Campaign (1943-44)
From Month/Year
February / 1943
To Month/Year
November / 1944
Description The Solomon Islands campaign was a major campaign of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign began with Japanese landings and occupation of several areas in the British Solomon Islands and Bougainville, in the Territory of New Guinea, during the first six months of 1942. The Japanese occupied these locations and began the construction of several naval and air bases with the goals of protecting the flank of the Japanese offensive in New Guinea, establishing a security barrier for the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain, and providing bases for interdicting supply lines between the Allied powers of the United States and Australia and New Zealand.
The Allies, in order to defend their communication and supply lines in the South Pacific, supported a counteroffensive in New Guinea, isolated the Japanese base at Rabaul, and counterattacked the Japanese in the Solomons with landings on Guadalcanal (see Guadalcanal Campaign) and small neighboring islands on 7 August 1942. These landings initiated a series of combined-arms battles between the two adversaries, beginning with the Guadalcanal landing and continuing with several battles in the central and northern Solomons, on and around New Georgia Island, and Bougainville Island.
In a campaign of attrition fought on land, on sea, and in the air, the Allies wore the Japanese down, inflicting irreplaceable losses on Japanese military assets. The Allies retook some of the Solomon Islands (although resistance continued until the end of the war), and they also isolated and neutralized some Japanese positions, which were then bypassed. The Solomon Islands campaign then converged with the New Guinea campaign.
