This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Nicole Summers, MMFN
to remember
Asmussen, Glenn Edward, SF1.
If you knew or served with this Sailor and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
While the SH-3 helicopter was designed and equipped for anti-submarine warfare, it was commonly used for intership transportation among the 7th Fleet ships operating in the Gulf of Tonkin and South China Sea areas.
The USS NAVASOTA (AO-106) was a fleet oiler which replenished the warships with fuel oil, aviation gasoline, and jet fuel. During operations offshore Vietnam, three NAVASOTA crewmen were lost at sea when the SH-3A (BuNo 149926) they were aboard enroute it went down. As with most at-sea losses, their remains could not be recovered. They had been returning from a collision of 2 destroyers the USS Brinkley Bass and the USS Waddell.
Lost at sea during one of those south seas Monsoons on Feb. 6, 1966. Two destroyers had run together and one was taking a lot of water, and a call went out for help. They needed someone who knew how to weld under water, The men had that experience and volunteered, eleven men made the trip of a mile or so in a helicopter.
The storm was so bad that the chopper had to hover and take the men in one at a time. They plugged up the hole and were returning when suddenly the chopper went out of control and plunged into the high waves then turned up-side down. All were rescued but three.
Other Comments:
Glenn E. Asmussen Served in WWII on the uss Lexington CV-16 according to muster reports as Seaman First Class in the V-6 Program (Enlisted men required for mobilization in addition toother classes of Volunteer Reserve.) He was Transferred in January 15, 1946 and sent to PSC Bainbridge, MD for Discharge. It is beleive that he returned to service in 1950 as in News paper articles of the time he was about to retire after 20 years in the service.
This Sailor has an (IMO) In Memory Of Headstone in Courts of the Missing, Honolulu, Hawaii
Marshall Islands Operation (1944)/Battle of Kwajalein Atoll (Operation Flintlock)
From Month/Year
January / 1944
To Month/Year
February / 1944
Description The Battle of Kwajalein was fought as part of the Pacific campaign of World War II. It took place from 31 January-3 February 1944, on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Employing the hard-learned lessons of the battle of Tarawa, the United States launched a successful twin assault on the main islands of Kwajalein in the south and Roi-Namur in the north. The Japanese defenders put up stiff resistance, although outnumbered and under-prepared. The determined defense of Roi-Namur left only 51 survivors of an original garrison of 3,500.
For the US, the battle represented both the next step in its island-hopping march to Japan and a significant moral victory because it was the first time the Americans had penetrated the "outer ring" of the Japanese Pacific sphere. For the Japanese, the battle represented the failure of the beach-line defense. Japanese defenses became prepared in depth, and the battles of Peleliu, Guam, and the Marianas proved far more costly to the US.