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| Yeoman Roger Scamman served on the USS Aulick until it was hit by a Japanese plane. https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=94015726 |
Roger W. Scamman never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on July 11, 1917 in Maine. His parents were also both born in Maine. His father worked as a street car conductor and later an electric railroad operator. Roger had two younger brothers, one who served in the Navy and survived the war.
Roger enlisted in the Navy on December 16, 1936. He rose to the rank of yeoman first class.
He married his wife Elva on August 25, 1941. They had one child. His five year enlistment was almost up. Perhaps he was planning on leaving the navy and getting a job that would allow him to spend more time with his new wife. The attack on Pearl Harbor changed any such plans and Yeoman Scamman stayed in the navy.
I don't know where Yeoman Scamman served from 1936 to 1944, but he was on the destroyer USS Aulick by the summer of 1944 when it returned to action in the Pacific, after undergoing repairs in San Fransisco. By October the Aulick was in Leyte Gulf and participated in engaging the Japanese Combined Fleet and helped sink a Japanese destroyer.
The Aulick was on antisubmarine patrol in the early evening of November 29, 1944 when it was attacked by six Japanese planes. One dropped a bomb that was a near miss. Another plane clipped the bridge with a wingtip and exploded near the bow just above the main deck. The explosion resulted in the death of 31 men including Yeoman Scamman.
His grave is at Laurel Hill Cemetery, Saco, Maine. His widow remarried in 1947 and died in 1948. I don't have any information about his child.
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!
To mark having over 100,000 visits to my project to honor the fallen of WW2 on their 100th birthdate, I created this video to share. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY
Join the public Facebook group WW2 Fallen 100
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