Walter Becker, USS Oklahoma Survivor-- Part 2

It is so nice to write about men who survived the capizing of the USS Oklahoma, especially one who went on to do so well in life.

After Pearl Harbor, he was on the destroyer USS  Blue which was sunk at Guadalcanal on 22 August 1942.  So, he was on two ships that sank.  Unfortunate, but fortunate.  The Blue had also been at Pearl Harbor, but got underway.

After that, he was assigned to an aircraft carrier  that was attacked and sunk by Japanese kamakaze planes.  Unfortunately, the article did not say which one.  But, I did find a list of U.S. aircraft carriers sunk by kamakazes and the ones listed were Ommaney Bay (CVE-79), USS Bismarck Sea (CVE-95) and USS St. Lo (CVE-63).

That would make three ships he was on that sank.  I would have given up going to sea.

After the war, Becker eventually moved to Casper where he founded the Becker Fire  Equipment Company

Walter Becker died  December 4, 2015, at the age of 94.  His remains are interred at the Oregon Trail Veterans Cemetery north of Evansville.

--GreGen

USS Helm (DD-338)-- Part 5: Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Atomic Testing

Task Force 38 retired to Ulithi, arriving November 2, 1944, after almost two months of continuous action.  After three days, they departed on 5 November and headed back to the Philippines.  The Helm later took part in the landings at Lingayen Gulf on Luzon.

The Japanese put up fierce resistance with their only remaining weapon, suicide kamikaze planes.  On January, 4, 1945, the escort carrier USS Ommaney Bay was struck and sunk.

Next up was Iwo Jima where she screen carriers and rescue survivors of the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea.  After that, it was on to Okinawa where it shot down many kamikazes.

Afterwards, the Helm did mostly patrol duty and helped search for survivors of the USS Indianapolis.  After the Japanese surrender, it took part in the occupation of Japan.  It was decommissioned in 1946 and used that summer as a target ship of the Operation Crossroads atomic tests in the Pacific.  Her hulk was sold for scrapping in October 1947.

Mr. Winslow's ship was definitely involved in a lot of action.  I wonder if any other ship was involved with that much.

--GreGen