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| Lt (jg) William Ford served on the USS Cushing during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/46082356/william-richard-ford https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cushing_(DD-376) |
Willam Richard Ford never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on January 27, 1919 in Homer, Louisiana. His parents Hubert and Ruth were also both born in Louisiana. His father worked as an oil field tractor driver and later as a billboards manager. Still later he was a government treasurer. William had one older brother and one younger sister. By 1940 William had completed two years of college and was still living at home.
He enlisted in the navy on June 23, 1937. He graduated from Souther Methodist University in June 1941 and was commissioned an ensign in September 1941. He married Frances Sypert in June 1942. He became a lieutenant junior grade assigned to the destroyer USS Cushing. His battle station was in a gun director position.
Cushing departed San Fransisco on August 1, 1942 and was sent to the South Pacific where it fought in the Battle of Santa Cruz on October 26, 1942. Cushing next saw action on November 13, 1942 during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. There was a dark moon and bad weather so it was not until the enemy was 3,000 yards away that Cushing spotted three Japanese destroyers. Both sides immediately began firing guns and torpedoes. Within minutes a direct hit to his gun director gravely injured Lt. Ford. Other sailors applied a tourniquet to at least one of his legs and burn jelly to his face. They were attempting to move him where he could get medical attention when another shell hit, wounding those rendering aid. Lt. Ford ordered the men to leave him and seek safety.
"One man isn't important. We've got to fight the ship. See if you can't help man some gun," said Lt. Ford.
Fires, exploding ammunition, and the inability of guns to stay active in the fight forced the captain to give the order to abandon ship at 0230 hours. When he heard the order to abandon ship, Lt. Ford refused efforts to help, saying "Go on, get off the ship. I can't make it." Lt. Ford was one of 70 men lost from Cushing that night.
His grave is at Arlington Cemetery in Homer, Louisiana. I don't know what happened to his widow.
Last year on this date I profiled B-24 navigator Lloyd Kelly. You can read about Lloyd here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
Lieutenant (jg) William R. Ford, thank you for your service to our country. Sailor, rest your oar. God bless you and your families sacrifice.
ReplyDeleteFord's wife, Frances Sypert Ford, was a captain in the Marine Womens Reserve. She remarried several years after Ford's death to a Alvin Williams. She is buried in Dallas, TX.
ReplyDeleteFord's body was never recovered but there is a marker for him in Arlington Cemetery, Homer, LA. The local history museum is named after his father Herbert S. Ford.
Thanks for adding these extra details.
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