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Nicole Summers, MMFN
to remember
Ackerman, Edward, LCDR.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Cincinnati, OH
Last Address Cincinnati, OH
Casualty Date Mar 20, 1945
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 5 (cenotaph)
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
USS Kete (SS-369) began her second war patrol, clearing Guam on 1 March 1945. After three weeks, she was down to three torpedoes, having sunk four enemy ships. She was ordered back to Midway but never arrived, and was listed as presumed lost, 16 April 1945. Lieutenant Commander Ackerman was listed as Missing in Action and later declared dead 1 April 1946.
Comments/Citation:
Service number: 082383
Commands and duties:
Diving Officer - USS Grayback (SS-208) - 1942 and 1943
Executive Officer - USS Grayback (SS-208) - 9/30/42 to 12/1/43
Executive Officer - USS Kete (SS-369) - 7/44 to 1/45
Commanding Officer - USS Kete (SS-369) - 2/20/45 to 3/20/45
Silver Star
Awarded for actions during World War II
Service: Navy
Rank: Lieutenant
Division: U.S.S. Grayback (SS-208)
General Orders: Commander 7th Fleet: Serial 0547 (March 11, 1944)
Citation: The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Lieutenant Edward Ackerman (NSN: 0-82383), United States Navy, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action. During the first SEVEN War Patrols of the U.S.S. GRAYBACK (SS-208), Lieutenant Ackerman, as Diving Officer, calmly and skillfully maintained depth control of his ship during torpedo attacks and during trying conditions of no less than 15 enemy depth-charge counterattacks. On one occasion, when a main ballast tank malfunctioned, he took corrective action to prevent loss of trim and serious damage or loss of his ship. His assistance to his Commanding Officer contributed to the successful attacks on seven enemy ships, including a destroyer, during a single war patrol. His actions throughout were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
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.