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| Ensign Eugene Huntemer served on the USS Cushing during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/815474/eugene-james-huntemer http://navalwarfare.blogspot.com/2010/11/uss-cushing-dd-376.html |
Eugene J. Huntemer never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on August 13, 1919 in Nebraska. His parents Edward and Clara were born in South Dakota and Nebraska, respectively. His father worked as a professor and later as an architect. Eugene had one older sister.
He enlisted in the US Navy on June 8, 1939 when he accepted a scholarship to the US Naval Academy. He played on the Navy basketball team. His class finished in June 1942, one year early because of the war. He was assigned to the destroyer USS Cushing.
Cushing departed San Fransisco on August 1, 1942 and was sent to the South Pacific where it fought in the Battle of Santa Cruz on October 26, 1942.
Cushing next saw action on November 13, 1942 during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. There was a dark moon and bad weather so it was not until the enemy was 3,000 yards away that Cushing spotted three Japanese destroyers. Both sides immediately began firing guns and torpedoes. Fires, exploding ammunition, and the inability of guns to stay active in the fight forced the captain to give the order to abandon ship at 0230 hours. Ensign Huntemer was one of 70 men lost from Cushing that night.
His cenotaph grave is at Fort McPherson National Cemetery in Maxwell, Nebraska.
Last year on this date I profiled B-24 navigator Raymond Piotrowski. You can read about Raymond 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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