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Casualty Info
Home Town Wilmerding, PA
Last Address 503 Larimer Ave Turtle Creek, PA
Casualty Date May 13, 1945
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Other Explosive Device
Location Pacific Ocean
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (VA) - Honolulu, Hawaii
Wall/Plot Coordinates F 252
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
On 13 May, 1945, several enemy dive-bombers attacked the picket station off Okinawa and one completed a successful kamikaze attack on USS Bache (DD-470). The wing of the plane struck near number two stack, catapulting the plane down on the main deck amidships, with its bomb exploding about seven feet above the main deck. Forty-one of the crew were killed (16 missing in action) and 32 were injured. All steam and electrical power were lost. Fires were brought under control within 20 minutes and she was towed to Kerama Retto, Okinawa, for temporary repairs.
RdM2 Becker was killed in action.
Comments/Citation:
Service number: 6529404
The information contained within this profile was compiled from various internet sources.
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/New Guinea Campaign (1943-44)
From Month/Year
January / 1943
To Month/Year
December / 1944
Description The last obstacle in liberating all of New Guinea island was the Vogelkop Peninsula in Dutch New Guinea. The Japanese resistance on the peninsula gathered at Manokwari, and MacArthur did not wish to contest with this force. Instead, his "hit 'em where they ain't" strategy took the Allied forces to a number of undefended beaches near Cape Opmaria and Sansapor. Like Rabaul, the 25,000 men at Manokwari were now stranded, frustratingly idling uselessly.
In Sep 1944, Allied troops occupied the Halmahera Islands, concluding the New Guinea Campaign. MacArthur was now only several hundred miles from the Philippines. In his memoir, MacArthur attributed to the Allied victory over New Guinea to mobility and the ability to achieve surprise at key confrontations. Additionally, he also insisted that his refusal to deploy military governors over conquered regions helped his command focus on the task at hand. Instead, he brought in Dutch and Australian civil administrators immediately after the area had been deemed secure. "The success of this method was reflected in the complete lack of friction between the various governments concerned", he noted.
Although Allied attention would move toward the Philippine Islands by this time, small pockets of Japanese resistance would continue to fight until late May 1945.
