TEMPLE, Seaman 1/C Meredith Williard, WWII
TEMPLE
Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 5/11/2013 at 17:01:28
The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
Tuesday, April 02, 1946, Page 4TEMPLE OFFICIALLY DECLARED LOST on DESTROYER YEAR AGO
Disappeared When Ship Was Hit
by Jap Suicide Plane Off Okinawa CoastMeredith W. TEMPLE, S 1/c, who has been carried on the navy records as missing on the destroyer, USS Kimberly, off the coast of Okinawa since March 26, 1935, lost his life at that time, according to word received here from the navy department.
The official date of his death has been set as March 27, 1946, a year and a day following the date he was reported missing.
TEMPLE was one of 18 men on board the destroyer who disappeared when a Jap suicide plane struck it early in the morning at 6:30 just after the ship had arrived. It was TEMPLE'S first action. Seven of the 180 men that made up the ship's complement were killed outright. The ship, with a large hole in its side, was patched and immediately sent to the states.
TEMPLE, whose wife Kathryn and 2 children, Karen, 8, and Stephen, 5, live at 304 Vermont S. E., entered service in the navy in February, 1944. After 4 weeks of boot training at Great Lakes and a 10-day leave at home, he was sent to Camp Peary, Va., where he served as instructor of illiterate servicemen for a time before leaving for overseas the following November. He was in New Guinea and the Philippines before entering the Okinawa region.
The son of Mr. and Mrs. W. M. TEMPLE, 109 Connecticut S. E., he was associated with his father in the Central Show Printing at the time of being called into the service. He was a member of the First Methodist church and belonged to the Junior Chamber of Commerce, Elks club and had been a member of the Rotary.
NOTE: The USS Kimberly (DD-521) entered the Okinawa campaign and on March 26th, 1945 one Japanese plane crashed into her aft gun mounts which wounded 57 and killed 4 [18 according to the Globe Gazette article of April 2, 1945] crewmen. One of those killed was Seaman 1/Class Meredith Williard TEMPLE. The Kimberly limped to Mare Island Naval Yard, arriving on April 25th, and was repairs. She returned to the Pacific. On September 6th she escorted the USS Missouri (BB-63) into Tokyo Bay. She provided as a screen and plane guard for aircraft carriers during the Korean War. The ship received 5 battle stars during World War II and one battle star during the Korean War.
Source: hazegray.org/danfs/destroy/dd521txt.htmTranscriptions and note by Sharon R. Becker, May of 2013
Cerro Gordo Obituaries maintained by Lynn Diemer-Mathews.
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