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Casualty Info
Home Town Georgetown, SC
Last Address Georgetown, SC
Casualty Date Oct 25, 1944
Cause KIA-Body Not Recovered
Reason Torpedoed
Location Pacific
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Manila American Cemetery and Memorial - Manila, Philippines
Wall/Plot Coordinates (cenotaph)
Military Service Number 5 757 614
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
USS Tang (SS-306) was on her fifth war patrol when she came upon a Japanese convoy. On the morning of 24 October 1944 she had sunk three ships when she fired her 24th and last torpedo. That torpedo turned to the left, making a circular turn. Tang tried to clear the path of the torpedo, but was struck by her own torpedo and sank. Nine men survived, and spent the war as Prisoners of War. Cook, Second Class Raiford was listed as missing in action and later declared dead 7 December 1945.
Comments/Citation:
Service number: 5757614
Note: There are various web sites containing a written service history of CK3 Raiford. The dates stated for the various commands are not accurate. The information about the duty stations and dates found in this profile are compiled from various official Navy muster rolls and are the most accurate concerning his service.
Description The plan of the Pacific subseries was determined by the geography, strategy, and the military organization of a theater largely oceanic. Two independent, coordinate commands, one in the Southwest Pacific under General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and the other in the Central, South, and North Pacific (Pacific Ocean Areas) under Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, were created early in the war. Except in the South and Southwest Pacific, each conducted its own operations with its own ground, air, and naval forces in widely separated areas. These operations required at first only a relatively small number of troops whose efforts often yielded strategic gains which cannot be measured by the size of the forces involved. Indeed, the nature of the objectivesùsmall islands, coral atolls, and jungle-bound harbors and airstrips, made the employment of large ground forces impossible and highlighted the importance of air and naval operations. Thus, until 1945, the war in the Pacific progressed by a double series of amphibious operations each of which fitted into a strategic pattern developed in Washington.
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