This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Jackson Plant, CTR1
to remember
Plant, Harry (Jack), ARM1c.
If you knew or served with this Sailor and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Contact Info
Home Town Columbus
Last Address Daytona Beach, FL
Date of Passing Jan 18, 2005
Location of Interment Florida Memorial Gardens - Cocoa, Florida
Why is America lucky enough to have such men?
They leave this tiny ship and fly against the enemy.
Then they must seek the ship, lost somewhere on the sea.
And when they find it, they have to land upon its pitching deck.
Where did we get such men?
James A. Michener
CURTISS SB2C-3 HELLDIVER
Other Comments:
Harry Jackson "Jack" Plant, age 82 of Daytona Beach, Fl., passed away Tuesday at Florida Hospital-Ormond after a long illness.
Mr. Plant was born June 28, 1922 in Columbus, Ga. to Luther Sarge and Goldie Jewell Plant. He was a Navy veteran of WW II. He was an ARM1/c, serving with a SB2C Helldiver squadron attached to USS Lexington. Mr. Plant participated in many campaigns in the Pacific including the battles of Leyte Gulf and the Philippine Sea. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross
and several Air medals, Presidential Unit Citation and the WW II Victory medal, among others.
Mr. Plant worked for the Western Union Telegraph Co. where he retired as Regional Sales Manager after 39 years of service in 1977. He then went to work for Siemens AG as Regional Sales Manager where he retired in 1984.
He was a Pioneer member of Bent Tree Country Club in Jasper, Ga. where he lived from 1971 until he moved to Daytona Beach in 2004. Mr. Plant enjoyed reading and writing histories of the Plant and Vaughn families and he also wrote a book of his experiences in World War II.
Survivors include his wife of 43 years, Caroline; sons, the Rev. Jackson Plant, Crofton, Md., William Plant, Woodstock, and Robert Plant, Tallahassee, Fl.; daughter, Barbara Loper, Ocean Springs, Ms.; sisters,
Kathryn Phillips and Ellen Plant, Columbus, Ga. Five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren also survive. Two brothers, Denton and Robert Plant,
preceded him in death.
Interment will be at National Cemetery in Bushnell, Fl. at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in his name to the American Heart Association.
Leyte Campaign (1944)/Battle of Leyte Gulf
From Month/Year
October / 1944
To Month/Year
October / 1944
Description The Battle of Leyte Gulf, also called the Battles for Leyte Gulf, and formerly known as the Second Battle of the Philippine Sea, is generally considered to be the largest naval battle of World War II and, by some criteria, possibly the largest naval battle in history.
It was fought in waters near the Philippine islands of Leyte, Samar and Luzon from 23–26 October 1944, between combined US and Australian forces and the Imperial Japanese Navy. On 20 October, United States troops invaded the island of Leyte as part of a strategy aimed at isolating Japan from the countries it had occupied in Southeast Asia, and in particular depriving its forces and industry of vital oil supplies. The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) mobilized nearly all of its remaining major naval vessels in an attempt to defeat the Allied invasion, but was repulsed by the US Navy's 3rd and 7th Fleets. The IJN failed to achieve its objective, suffered very heavy losses, and never afterwards sailed to battle in comparable force. The majority of its surviving heavy ships, deprived of fuel, remained in their bases for the rest of the Pacific War.
The Battle of Leyte Gulf consisted of four separate engagements between the opposing forces: the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, the Battle of Surigao Strait, the Battle of Cape Engaño and the Battle off Samar, as well as other actions.
It was the first battle in which Japanese aircraft carried out organized kamikaze attacks. By the time of the battle, Japan had fewer aircraft than the Allied forces had sea vessels, demonstrating the difference in power of the two sides at this point of the war.