WW2 Fallen - Lester Nielsen, USS Pecos

Machinist Mate 2/c Lester Nielsen served on the oil tanker USS Pecos.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/172879848/lester-russell-nielsen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Pecos_(AO-6) 

Lester Russell Nielsen never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

If you have enjoyed reading the stories of the WW2 fallen, I invite you to help write some!  Announcing "The Stories Behind the Stars", see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org This crowd-sourced national project has the goal of compiling stories of all 400,000+ of the US World War 2 fallen in one free-to-access central database.  Anyone visiting a war memorial or gravesite will be able to scan the name of the fallen with a smartphone and his story will appear on the phone.

He was born on March 2, 1920 in Hyrum, Utah. His parents Andrew and Ada (who lived to be 103) were born in Denmark and Montana, respectively. His father worked as a railroad section laborer. Lester had three older brothers, one younger sister, and one younger brother. He was a talented musician who played the violin.

He enlisted in the US Navy in June 1937. Although he was young, he was big for his age. He served on the battleship USS Maryland, the destroyer USS Wilson, and the replenishment oiler USS Pecos. He reached the rank of machinist mate second class. For many years he travelled the world with the US Navy, sending back home presents and souvenirs from many exotic locations.

When World War 2 started MM Nielsen and Pecos were in the Philippines. Pecos was part of the Asiatic Fleet and was tasked with keeping Allied warships adequately fueled.

On February 27, Pecos came under air attack near Christmas Island but evaded harm. It head south but was located again on March 1, 1942. Pecos sustained damage during three separate air attacks from the Japanese carriers Soryu and Kaga. After Pecos sank, the destroyer Whipple was able to rescue 232 men from the water. MM Nielsen was one of 85 men who did not survive.

His grave is at Hyrum City Cemetery in Hyrum, Utah.

Thank you MM Nielsen for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Lester.

Last year on this date I profiled B-17 co-pilot Leonard Gallant. You can read about Leonard 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.

Follow on Twitter @ww2fallen100
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100

WW2 Fallen 100 is supported by

The Greatest GENERATIONS Foundation

“Where Every Day is Memorial Day”

http://www.tggf.org