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Casualty Info
Home Town Wharton, NJ
Last Address Brockton, PA
Casualty Date Apr 18, 1944
Cause KIA-Body Not Recovered
Reason Other Explosive Device
Location Pacific Ocean
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial - Honolulu, Hawaii
Wall/Plot Coordinates Court 1 (cenotaph)
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
On 4 April 1944, USS Gudgeon (SS-211) set out from Pearl Harbor to begin her twelfth war patrol. She topped off her fuel tanks at Johnston Island three days later and was never heard from again. After a postwar examination of Japanese records, officials concluded that Gudgeon was probably lost on 18 April after being spotted by a Japanese aircraft on anti-submarine patrol about 170 miles southeast of Iwo Jima. After observing the boat coming to the surface the pilot dropped two bombs. "The first bomb hit a bow, the second bomb direct on bridge," the report states. "The center of the submarine burst open and oil pillars rose." She sank quickly and the pilot observed evidence of a massive underwater explosion. S1c Piller was among the crew and his body was never recovered.
Comments/Citation:
Service number: 7102400
Submarine combat patrols:
USS Nautilus (SS-168) - 6th and 7th
USS Gudgeon (SS-211) - 12th
The information contained in this profile was compiled from various internet sources.
Central Pacific Campaign (1941-43)/Gilbert Islands Operation
From Month/Year
November / 1943
To Month/Year
December / 1943
Description In the Pacific Theater of World War II, the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, from November 1943 through February 1944, were key strategic operations of the United States Pacific Fleet and Marine Corps in the Central Pacific. The purpose was to establish airfields that would allow land based air support for the upcoming operations across the Central Pacific. The campaign began with a costly three-day battle for the island of Betio at the Tarawa atoll. The campaign was preceded a year earlier by a diversionary raid on Makin Island by U.S. Marines.
