Destroyer Escorts Named for Iowans
Washington, D.C. (UP) - Three destroyer escort ships to be launched soon by the U.S. Navy have been named in honor of Iowans who have given their lives in this war, the Navy Department announced Saturday.
The USS Sellstrom will honor the late Ensign Edward Robert Sellstrom, Rockwell City, Ia., who received the Navy Cross as a pilot on an aircraft carrier early in the war. Sellstrom was born in 1916 at Dayton, Ia.
The second ship, the USS Bunch, will be named after the late Kenneth Cecil Bunch, aviation radioman first class, Pershing, Ia., who was killed in action last June in a diving attack on a Japanese ship.
Ensign Don T. Griswold, Clarinda, Ia., who was awarded posthumously the distinguished Flying Cross for bravery, will be honored at the naming of the third ship, the USS Griswold. Griswold was cited for his work in the battle of Midway.
Source: Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, morning edition, Sunday, April 25, 1943
Kenneth Cecil Bunch was born Jan. 21, 1919 to Henry Perry and Gladys Irene Stilwell Bunch. He died June 6, 1942 and has a cenotaph in Hamilton Cemetery, Hamilton, IA and is memorialized at the Courts of the Missing, Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Petty Officer Bunch served in World War II with the U.S. Naval Air Corps as radioman-gunner in the Douglas SBD-3 “Dauntless” dive bomber piloted by Ens. Donald T. Griswold and was KIA in the Battle of Midway and was awarded the Purple Heart and Air Medal.
Source: ancestry.com
