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| Marine sergeant Dennis Sikes, USS Boise, was killed at the Battle of Cape Esperance. Battle damage to Boise shown in diagram. https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-b/cl47.htm http://hamptonroadsnavalmuseum.blogspot.com/2015/08/fighting-tojo-mussolini-and-juan-peron.html |
Dennis F. Sikes never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on August 27, 1917 in Georgia. His parents were also both born in Georgia. His father worked as a farmer and later as a carpenter and still later as a vegetable salesman. Dennis had three older brothers, one older sister, one younger brother and three younger sisters. Two brothers were in the army during the war and both made it back home. By 1940 Dennis was no longer living at home. He had probably already joined the Marine Corps.
Dennis became a platoon sergeant. His last station was serving on the light cruiser USS Boise. The Boise took part in the Battle of Cape Esperance, off the coast of Guadalcanal during the night of October 11-12, 1942. Boise was hit a number of times, including large shells from a Japanese heavy cruiser. One shell hit a magazine that ignited a fire which killed 107 crewmen including Sgt. Sikes. The Boise survived the battle and the war.
His grave is at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.
William French Smith
Born the same day as Dennis Sikes, William French Smith spent his early years in New England before attending college at UC Berkeley. He returned east and got a law degree from Harvard University. He joined the navy in 1942 and served in the Pacific where he attained the rank of lieutenant.
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| World War 2 Navy vet William French Smith was Ronald Reagan's first attorney general. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reagan_speaks_on_air_traffic_controllers_strike_1981.jpg |
After the war Smith became Ronald Reagan's personal lawyer and his first attorney general where he implemented Reagan's conservative agenda. He died in 1990.
At least 400 of Smith's fellow Harvard grads died in the war, some of who have already been profiled in this project. Those who attend this prestigious school often go on to storied careers like Smith, but the 400 who did not come home, along with the 400,000 plus other Americans who died in the war tragically never had the opportunity to see similar accolades.
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. Now more than 200 fallen have been profiled with more than 200,000 visits. Is there interest in seeing a similar video highlighting those from the group of second 100?
Join the public Facebook group WW2 Fallen 100
Yes, I would like to see the next group of fallen profiled.
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