Evening star., 1945-08-12
Two D. T.. Area Men
Among 81 Saved
In Transport Crash

In Transport Crash
A Rockville man, Felix j. Sim
mons, mailman 1/c, and Warrel
May, aviation radioman 2/c, IL
Thirty-third street NE, were tw
of the 80 persons rescued from
four r-motored transport plane force,
down near Jap-held islands whil
en- route to the United States.
= + A Navy provision ship sighted tn
plane shortly after it went down, {
dispatch revealed. During rescu,
operations, however, one of tn,
pontoons Of the plane crashed int,
the stern of a motor whaleboat, de-
stroying the tiller and throwing twt
crew members of the provision shiI
into the sea. Manouvering with ar
improvised rudder control resulted
+ in the saving of both mems lives
the Navy said. Mailman Simmon.
. lives at 504 Monroe street, Rockville
Ensign H. Beuchert, jr., ALL
Piney Branch road NV, serves or
the LIST 724 which takes personnel
equipment and supplies to forward
fighting areas in the Pacific from
its base in the Marianas. When the
ship was about to make landing
on Okinawa on Easter Sunday, two
Jap suicide planes appeared over
head. One landed on an LIST di-
rectly behind 724 and the other
hit about 20 feet from Ensign Beu-
chert's craft. The conclusion of the
explosion of the Jap's bomb, how
ever, knocked the young ensign to
the deck and spattered oil and
gasoline over his clothes.
On one of thee earliest trips to
Two Jima, while LIST 724 was rest
ing on the beach, an enemy mortar
shell landed on deck, struck sew
eral barrels of fuel oil but entirely
missed a considerable quantity of
high octane gasoline on deck.
Stanley Walicki, boatswain's mate
1/c, 319 Fourteenth street NE, was
one of a group of bomb disposal
experts and Seabee volunteers who
helped remove an unexploded 500
steamship Josiah Smelling, an Amer
ican Liberty ship, when she re-
Gently returned to California re-
pair base. The men worked all day
with hand-operated tackle to re-
move the bomb from 12-inch square
timbers. The bomb had lodged there
after Jap suicide plane struck the
ship while she was unloading cargo
at Okinawa.
Aboard the U. S. S. Petrol Bay,
Quentin r. Smith, seaman 1/c, 6108
Kingston road, Capitol Heights, Md;
Edward E. King, aviation machin-
lists mate, 1412 Eastern avenue NE,
and Norman B. Covington, stewards
mate 2/c, BAL l. street S.W., helped
polish off japanese planes and ship
ping when their small carrier fought
at Okinawa, Two Jima and other
points.
Sergt. William NJ. Brown, 480 I
street S.W., gunner on Siapan-
based Super Fortress, has completed
the required number of missions
against the Jap homeland in the
B-29 campaign to bomb enemy war
production facilities.
When the light cruiser Oakland
sank a Jap destroyer and 1900
ton transport in the Pacific and
shot down IL Jap planes four Wash
ington men were serving aboard her:
Capt. Kendall S. Reed, 2601 Thirty
sixth street NV; Robert Savage,
stewards mate nc, 1888 Twelfth
street NV; Bennie Lee Jones,
stewards mate &c, 3251a Oakdale
place NV, and Lyle r. Harms, sea-
man 1fc, 1914 Clay place NE,
shared in the action.
Sixteen other men from this area
are serving aboard a 45,000-ton bat
tleship in the Pacific and partici-
pated in the first fast carrier task
force raids against the Jap home
land, a dispatch revealed. They
are: r. r. Padgett, quartermaster
SIC, 1913 Harvard street NV; F. X.
Barry, pharmacists mate 1/c, 402
Shepherd street NV; w. H. Con-
don, yeoman &c, $500 Barr road,
Fairway Hills, Md; C. A. Herget,
yeoman sc, 1929 Columbia road
NV; C. A. Davis, ships cook &c,
1925 l. street NV; C. S. Hender-
son, seaman 1/c, $50 Taylor street
NV; ]. G. Utz, seaman 1/c, BIT S
street NE; C. T. Sanderson, store
keeper &c, los Sixth street Sc:
Marine Corpl. j. d. Roberts, 228
Ninth street NE; Marine Pfc. o. r.
Grassi, 5504 Eighth street NV;
A. A. Gray, seaman &c, 502 Fourth
street Sc; C. J. Skinner, seaman
1/c, 2311 First street NV; L. N.
Brumfield, seaman 1/c, 1910 Orren
street NE; j. H. McAllister, 912
Eighth street NE; M. E. Rhodes,
seaman 1/c, 2438 Twenty fifth street
Sc, and J. G. Minette, electricians
mate BIC, 1915 sherwood street NE.
J. r. Bell, fireman 1/c, has seen
action against Okinawa and in the
opening strikes against Kyushu
Island Serving on a destroyer, he
previously conveyed merchantmen
to Newfoundland, South America
and North America. His home is at
2630 Newton street NE.
For 80 days John Versace, radio
technician &c, 5621 Georgia avenue
NV, fought aboard the destroyer
U. S. S. Erben in the Western Pa
cific during an attack on the Jap
anese home islands and the Ryu-
kyus.
Clarence w. Randolph, coxswain,
is in charge of the shell deck of
main battery turret aboard the
cruiser U. S. S. Mobile. The cox
swain, who lives at GOT C street
NE, has been in 40 actions, the
Navy said.
Four Washington men served
aboard the 2,2OO-ton destroyer In
graham which survived the fury of
kamikaze suicide plane attack off
Okinawa and came back to the
United States battered and charred
but under her own power. The men
are: Capt. John G. Zahm, 5201
Sixteenth street NV; 1t. u. g.
William X. Peisch, 2601 Sixteenth
street NV; Maurice X. Garden,
Saopop I In 2o00 Eo,,rfeortI ctroat