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| Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Andrew Carson served on LCI (M) 807 at Okinawa. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/91145098/andrew-karsen https://www.navsource.org/archives/10/15/150807.htm |
Andrew Karsen never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on July 1, 1919 in Michigan. His parents John and Henrietta were also both born in Michigan. His father worked as a tile factory laborer and later as a coal yard laborer. Andrew had two older brothers and a younger sister.
He enlisted in the US Navy in December 1943. He became a gunner's mate 2nd class on the USS LCI (M) 807.
A Landing Craft Infantry was the largest ship that could take troops directly to the beach. It generally had a crew of more than 50 sailors and could carry 200 troops. The (M) designation means this version of the ship had three M2 4.2 inch mortars.
Gunner's Mate Karsen's ship saw action on March 26, 1945 when it participated in taking some of the smaller islands off of Okinawa.
On April 1, 1945, LCI (M) 807 was supporting the Okinawa landings at Brown Beach, on the first day of the invasion, when a "hang fire" occurred with one of the mortars that killed or wounded eight men. Gunner's Mate Karsen was killed.
His grave is at Mona View Cemetery in Muskegon Heights, Michigan.
Last year on this date I profiled Wendell Hanson, USS Peary. You can read about Wendell 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
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