[Jacquerie]

Decades after the end of the war, former Bunker Hill Gunner’s Mate Third Class Bruce Meyers was reading a book about the exploits of the carrier. He vividly recalled receiving orders to help recover the bodies of the deceased the day the kamikazes struck, but in later years attempted to forget the nightmarish things he witnessed.

However, after coming across a photograph of dead shipmates in the book, he claims the memories came flooding back. Walking out of his office, he “cried like a baby for an hour. I had stood in that same spot and saw those bodies.” The valiant crew of Bunker Hill, through both their tireless actions in saving the ship and identifying the remains of shipmates for burial at sea, were truly in keeping with the highest order and traditions of the United States Navy.

[Jacquerie]

To Those Whose Grave is the Sea.

[tet68]

There is film of an Avenger gunner whose pilot made it
back to the carrier but the gunner was dead and entangled
in the cockpit so the service was read then they pushed
the whole plane off the stern.

Very moving.

[Captain Walker]

The Battle of Okinawa was the USN’s largest loss of life during WWII.

[SuperLuminal]

My Dad (USMC Feb 1942 - March 1946) had enormous respect and admiration for the men of the U.S. Navy...

In his later years, most of his discussions with his two sons were about the valor of, and huge losses of, the U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal and Okinawa in particular...
He never discussed his Purple Hearts

While I joined the Marine Corps two days after graduating from HS in 1951 to honor my Dad, in 1979 my oldest son entered the Navy at my Dad’s suggestion to honor his grandfather...