 |
TOM BERRY/Ledger & Times
Dexter resident Homer Burkeen, a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, is proud of the honorable discharge he earned while serving about the USS Neuendorf, a Navy destroyer escort during the Pacific war with Japan.
The ship came under frequent kamikaze attacks while escorting troops and supplies in the war zone. |
WWII sailor recalls life on escort ship at war
By TOM BERRY
Staff Writer
DEXTER, Ky. - Homer Burkeen will never forget the last months of World War II as Americans and Allied Forces battled Japanese domination in the western Pacific.
As a boatswains mate aboard the U.S. Navy Destroyer Escort USS Neuendorf, Burkeen remembers attacks on the American fleet by kamikaze suicide bombers and torpedo planes that desperately struck at American carriers, battleships, cruisers, troop and supply ships taking the war to Tokyo.
Destroyer escorts protect main supply, troop and front-line warships from attack and, although not the main targets of Japanese onslaught, the escorts were directly in the line of fire. Burkeen said he and his shipmates saw plenty of action, but were lucky; the ship never suffered serious damage despite numerous attacks.
“I remember the suicide planes. They come at us pretty hard sometimes,” Burkeen said. “As long as they were coming in high we could knock them out pretty good. But they got wise to that so they begin coming in just over the top of the water. I remember one was coming in just skimming on top of the water, but then he saw he was going to have to raise up. The ship had two stacks on it and, when he raised up, his wings hit the stacks and he exploded out on the water. We were pretty lucky.”
For complete story, see today's Ledger & Times
Story created Nov 17, 2008 - 13:07:26 EST.
|
