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Nicole Summers, MMFN
to remember
Askew, Jack Thomas, GM2.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Little Rock, AR
Last Address Little Rock, AR
Casualty Date May 17, 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 Douglas H. Fox (DD-779) joined in exercises in the Hawaiian Islands from 31 March 1945 to 21 April 1945, then sailed to join the radar picket line at Okinawa, arriving 5 May 1945. She accounted for 7 planes during a concentrated attack by 11 enemy planes, splashed 5 of her attackers before being hit by a kamikaze and its bomb, and sprayed with gasoline from 1 of her own victims. Although 7 of her crew were killed and 35 wounded, the fires were quickly extinguished and effective damage control measures enabled Fox to reach Kerama Retto under her own power for temporary repairs.
GM2 Askew was among those listed and missing in action and later declared dead.
Description The Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo was a land battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, between the forces of the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied (mainly United States (U.S.) Marine) ground forces. It took place from 7–9 August 1942 on the Solomon Islands, during the initial Allied landings in the Guadalcanal campaign.
In the battle, U.S. Marines, under the overall command of U.S. Major General Alexander Vandegrift, successfully landed and captured the islands of Tulagi, Gavutu, and Tanambogo among which the Japanese Navy had constructed a naval and seaplane base. The landings were fiercely resisted by the Japanese Navy troops who, outnumbered and outgunned by the Allied forces, fought and died almost to the last man.
At the same time that the landings on Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo were taking place, Allied troops were also landing on nearby Guadalcanal, with the objective of capturing an airfield under construction by Japanese forces. In contrast to the intense fighting on Tulagi and Gavutu, the landings on Guadalcanal were essentially unopposed. The landings on both Tulagi and Guadalcanal initiated the six-month long Guadalcanal campaign and a series of combined-arms battles between Allied and Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands area.
