How should these Navy honors be written in an obituary?

Question

I need to write an obituary for my father-in-law. On his honorable discharge from the Navy, under "remarks," it says the following: Point System;
Victory Medal;
American Campaign;
Asiatic Pacific 3 Stars and 1 Silver Star;
Philippine Liberation 2 Stars;
So far I've written it this way: "...and enlisted in the United States Navy in 1943, where he served as Gunner’s Mate, Second Class. He was awarded a Victory Medal, three Stars and one Silver Star (Asiatic Pacific) and two Stars (Philippine Liberation) before receiving his honorable discharge in 1946."
(The semicolons above indicate line breaks on the discharge document.) Is my wording proper? Or is there another way of stating it? Many thanks in advance.

Thank you everyone for your responses so far. Like so many WWII vets, he never really spoke of specifics (as far as I know), and his widow is in the early stages of Alzheimers. Sadly, I imagine some of what he, like so many others, witnessed was probably unspeakable. Is there any way to find out the details of the Silver Star elsewhere?

Under "Service (vessels and stations served on), it says NavTraSta Sampson, NY (RT); USS LST #456.
Can I assume the NavTraSta might mean the place where he shipped out from, and the LST#456 was the ship??

Answer 1

I'd like to make a correction for you. The way I read it, your father in law did not receive the Silver Star. Instead, he received the Asiatic Pacific Campaign award nine times. Certain military awards can be received multiple times. To denote multiple receipt bronze and silver stars are used. Each bronze star counts as an additional award. Each silver star replaces 5 bronze stars. During the eulogy you can say:

He received the following military awards for service in WWII.
Victory Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal (9 awards), Philippine Liberation Medal (3 awards).

My sympathies go out to you and your family for your loss. The sacrifices made by your father in law and his generation should never be forgotten.

Answer 2

...enlisted in the United States Navy in 1943. While serving as a Gunners Mate 2nd Class he was awarded the Victory Medal w/ 3 stars and 1 silver star, Asia Pacific Campaign Medal with 2 stars & the Philippines Liberation Medal. After his Honorable Discharge in 1946 he went on to...(brief life summary here).

God bless him for his service!

Answer 3

i also agree, that the ship(s) is/are important, and the conditions behind how he received the silver star.

i think putting a few words of courage, honor, integrity, service, might be nice.

"and enlisted in the United States Navy in 1943, as a Gunner's Mate, Second Class. For his bravery and honor, he was awarded a Victory Medal, three Stars (Asiatic Pacific), one Silver Star (Asiatic Pacific) and two Stars related to the Philippine Liberation. During this trying time, he was
a man of integrity and ability, and upon his honorable discharge in 1946...

LST-456
http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/l18/lst-456.htm

NAVTRASTA = Naval Training Station


sorry for your loss...

Answer 4

The average individual would not know what Asiatic/Pacific with three stars and one silver star would mean. On a medal that has been awarded, you are given a bronze star to place on the ribbon of the medal in lieu of a second ward, while a silver star would denote five awards. So this means that your father-in-law participated in 9 seperate actions in the Pacific, plus two seperate actions in the Philipines. I would probably word it something like this:

Enlisted in the United States Navy in 1943, and served aboard (insert ship/duty station here), where he achieved the rank of Gunner's Mate Second Class before his honorable discharge in 1946. During his service, he was awarded Asiatic/Pacific Campaign medal with one silver and three bronze stars in lieu of nine awards, and The Philipines liberation medal with two bronze stars in lieu of three awards. He is survived by..........

Before you actually print it, I would contact you local Navy recruiter, who would put you in touch with people that handle military funerals. As a veteran, your father-in-law is entitled to a military funeral, and the least that they could do is to help you prepare an obituary that is fit for his service to his country. I am sorry for your loss, and thank you and your family for their service.
Semper Fi

Answer 5

LST 456 is the ship he was assigned to. It was a tank landing ship. They carried tanks and had the ability to get very, very close to the beach. The front of the ship opened up and a large ramp was extended for the tanks to drive down onto the beach.

Here's a picture of an old LST at work.

http://www.uscg.mil/history/WEBCUTTERS/LST_831_1.jpg

Here's a picture of LST 451. You father's ship would look the same.

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/img/LST/LST-451.gif

Here's some info on your father's ship. You might be able to use some of this information. It looks like he really did see some action.

In my opinion these ships were death-traps. The guys used to joke that "LST" stood for "Large Slow Target." You'll note they didn't even bother to name them. They laid the keel in July 1942 and launched the ship 3 months later. Totally expendable.

LST-456

LST-456 was laid down on 10 July 1942 at Vancouver, Wash., by Kaiser, Inc.; launched on 20 October 1942; and commissioned on 3 February 1943, Lt. Asa L. Perdue, USNR, in command.

During World War II, LST-456 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific theater and participated in the following operations:

Eastern New Guinea operation:

(a) Lae occupation—September 1943

(b) Saidor occupation—January and February1944

Bismarck Archipelago operation:

(a) Cape Gloucester, New Britain—December 1943, February and March 1944

(b) Admiralty Islands landings—March 1944

Hollandia operation—April 1944

Western New Guinea operations:

(a) Toem-Wakde-Sarmi area operation—May 1944

(b) Biak Island operation—May and June 1944

(c) Cape Sansapor operation—July and August 1944

(d) Mprotai landing—September 1944

Leyte landings—October 1944

Lingayen Gulf landing—January 1945

Mindanao Island landings—April 1945

Balikpapan operation—June and July 1945

Following the war, LST-456 performed occupation duty in the Far East until early February 1946. She served with the Military Sea Transportation Service as USNS LST-456 from 31 March 1952 until she was struck from the Navy list on 15 June 1973. On 27 September 1973, the ship was sold to the Maritime Co. Ltd., Khorramshahr, Iran.

LST-456 earned eight battle stars for World War II service.

Answer 6

...and enlisted in the United States Navy in 1943 where he served in the Pacific War as a gunner's mate, second class and was awarded the Silver Star and the Victory Medal as well as campaign medals for serving in the Asian Pacific and Phillipine campaigns."
The Silver Star is a very big deal so make sure that you got that right and if so, tell something about how he won that medal and lived to tell about it.

Answer 7

My Father-in-law was XO aboard the LST456. He was LT. Arra Kechijian. He passed on 2004. He did tell me about an air raid in which the Japanese dropped three bombs on the LST 456. ALL DUDS!!! Those sailors detailed to removed the bombs and dump them "out in the channnel" were awarded the Silver Star. I have posted a photo of the pic. Look for your father-in-law. (http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/16/1016045609.jpg)

Paul

Answer 8

Smokey Joe here lies Smoky Joe, His head and ft buried below. He died a stable guy- a guy with a coronary heart, yet gaseous he became, And died from a fart. He lit his final journey And observed a blue flame- His final cigarette became probable in charge.

Answer 9

thats a fitting tribute to his service..I dont see any problems with it and I will say that I have seen a whole lot worse....sorry for your loss..if he served on one particular ship he talked about a lot you might mention that...those guys were really proud of their ships and the time they were on them

Answer 10

If you take this to your army recruiter he can tell you who to contact to make sure this is right