 |
| Storekeeper 1st Class Fred Nagy was serving on the destroyer escort USS Bowers when he was killed by a kamikaze plane. https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=56126653&ref=acom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Bowers_(DE-637) |
Fred Joseph Nagy never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on October 10, 1917 in Nebraska. His parents were born in Austria. His father worked as a laborer for a vinegar company. His mother died in 1918, perhaps from the worldwide influenza. Fred had an older brother and sister and a younger half-brother (who also served in WW2).
He enlisted in the Navy and became a storekeeper 1st class on the destroyer escort USS Bowers.
On April 16, 1945 Bowers was on anti-submarine screening duty north of Ie Shima. At dawn it shot down an attacking Japanese plane but by 9:30 two more Japanese planes approached in sync. Bowers shot down the first but the second crashed into Bowers flying bridge, spilling fuel all over the bridge and pilot house.The bomb penetrated twenty feet down before exploding and starting a fire. Before the fire was brought under control, Nagy and 36 other men had been killed. Eleven were missing and 56 wounded, some would die later.
His grave is at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.
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.
Join the public Facebook group WW2 Fallen 100
No comments:
Post a Comment