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Frank was part of the invasion of Iwo Jim and Okinawa as gunner for 40MM and 20MM guns. Frank was on a gun boat which was 175 ft., 60 men and 5 officers. During the invasion the gun boat would come in close and shoot anything moving to clear the way for the soldiers landing. Frank would often clear radio towers and large artillery that would shoot at the Navy ships as they would pass by.
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Frank was doing escort duty for the USS Franklin aircraft carrier at Okinawa when the Kamikazes came in. The Franklin was hit a few times and seamen were blown off the ship, full of oil. Frank’s boat picked up the bodies, all 50 were dead and took their dog tags and had to bury the dead at sea. On the USS Arizona took more casualties than the USS Franklin of any US ship in World War II.
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After the war was over Frank had a daily task of clearing mines from the South China sea. The Japanese, Americans, Russians, and Koreans had all mind the area so it was a very large and dangerous task. 15 riflemen would shoot 30 caliber guns at the mines to explode them, the larger caliber weapons would bounce off the water and would be too dangerous. When a mine was hit it would throw shrapnel everywhere and a few people did get killed.
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- Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal - WWII
- World War II Victory Medal
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Click play button near the bottom left of image to watch the video.
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Frank was doing escort duty for the USS Franklin aircraft carrier at Okinawa when the Kamikazes came in. The Franklin was hit a few times and seamen were blown off the ship, full of oil. Frank’s boat picked up the bodies, all 50 were dead and took their dog tags and had to bury the dead at sea.
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