From casualty list Pearl Harbor.
Costill, Harold Kendall, F3c, USN, USS West Virginia. There is a picture of him on the USS West Virginia website.
From the Homestead Site.
There is a letter from Joan Costill Burke, his sister. In it, she says he graduated from Clayon (N.J.) High School and that his parents had to sign for him to enlist in the U.S. Navy.
She was ten at the time of his death.
His family had been looking forward to him coming home for Christmas.
--GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
Showing posts with label Costill Harold "Brud". Show all posts
Showing posts with label Costill Harold "Brud". Show all posts
Monday, March 20, 2017
Friday, March 17, 2017
New Jersey Vet Wants Brother's Remains Returned from Pearl Harbor-- Part 1: On the USS West Virginia
From the February 5, 2016, N.J..com "After 74 years, N.J. veteran wants brother's remains back from Pearl Harbor" by Andy Polhamus.
Gene Costill, former mayor of Clayton and World War II veteran has a photo frame full of pictures of his brother, Harold "Brud" Costill, who died at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He is one of 25 unidentified bodies recovered from the USS West Virginia.
Gene Costill will soon be having his 90th birthday. He joined the Coast Guard at age 17 and served in the North Atlantic guarding convoys.
Mr. Costill still remembers the day the Western Union man came to the family's house on Pearl Street saying that Harold was on the USS West Virginia and was MIA at age 18, just a few months after joining the Navy. He has been listed as missing ever since.
"I don't think my mother ever lived another day after that, really. She was convinced he was off the ship, lost somewhere, and that one day he'd walk through that door. She waited for the rest of her life."
--GreGen
Gene Costill, former mayor of Clayton and World War II veteran has a photo frame full of pictures of his brother, Harold "Brud" Costill, who died at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He is one of 25 unidentified bodies recovered from the USS West Virginia.
Gene Costill will soon be having his 90th birthday. He joined the Coast Guard at age 17 and served in the North Atlantic guarding convoys.
Mr. Costill still remembers the day the Western Union man came to the family's house on Pearl Street saying that Harold was on the USS West Virginia and was MIA at age 18, just a few months after joining the Navy. He has been listed as missing ever since.
"I don't think my mother ever lived another day after that, really. She was convinced he was off the ship, lost somewhere, and that one day he'd walk through that door. She waited for the rest of her life."
--GreGen
New Jersey Vet Wants Brother's Remains Returned From Pearl Harbor-- Part 2
Gene Costill shipped out into the Coast Guard just after D-Day. His other brother, Robert Costill fought in both the European and Pacific Theaters.
Of the dozens of bodies removed from the USS West Virginia in 1942, only two of them were believed to be teenagers. One was wearing the same watch Brad wore and had several physical characteristics similar to Brad's -- tall, but not fully grown and feet too small for his height.
That sailor is now buried under the tombstone "Unknown, USS West Virginia, Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941" at the Cemetery of the Pacific Punchbowl Cemetery.
Gene wants his brother Brad to come home for burial at Clayton's Cedar Green Cemetery.
DNA has been donated.
--GreGen
Of the dozens of bodies removed from the USS West Virginia in 1942, only two of them were believed to be teenagers. One was wearing the same watch Brad wore and had several physical characteristics similar to Brad's -- tall, but not fully grown and feet too small for his height.
That sailor is now buried under the tombstone "Unknown, USS West Virginia, Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941" at the Cemetery of the Pacific Punchbowl Cemetery.
Gene wants his brother Brad to come home for burial at Clayton's Cedar Green Cemetery.
DNA has been donated.
--GreGen
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