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| Machinist Brady Wood was killed when the destroyer USS Mullany was hit by a Japanese kamikaze plane. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/30356492/brady-mckinley-wood http://www.ussmullany.org/Ship1940.html |
Brady Wood never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on January 16, 1918 in North Carolina. His father Monie also born in North Carolina and his mother Bessie was born in Virginia. His father worked as a farmer and later as a furniture cabinet maker. Brady had three younger brothers and a younger sister. At some point he married Betty Jean Wood.
I don't know when Brady enlisted in the navy but he served on the cruiser USS Honolulu, the destroyer USS Grayson, and the destroyer USS Mullany (as a machinist).
On April 6, 1945 Mullany was providing antisubmarine picket guarding support for the Okinawa invasion. It was hit by a kamikaze plane which set of depth charges killing and wounding many. The ship was considered too dangerous to save due to a possible magazine explosion. All crew were ordered off, but later a salvage crew was returned and was able to get a boiler started so the ship could retire. Thirty six men survived with wounds. Twenty-one men were killed and nine went missing. Machinist Wood was one of them.
His (most likely cenotaph) grave is at Oakdale Cemetery in Mount Airy, North Carolina. I don't know what happened to his widow.
Last year on this date I profiled Henry Krajna, 4th Armored Division. You can read about Henry 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.
Join the public Facebook group WW2 Fallen 100
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