World War II Honoree

Joseph Kirk Gilbert

Branch of Service

U.S. Navy

Hometown

Seattle, Washington

Honored By

Daughter

A member of the V-12 program at the University of Washington, he helped with scrap metal drives in the early days and worked on the Seattle docks loading ships with cargo being sent overseas. He attended Officer Training School at Cornell and was commissioned as an Ensign. He served on the Okaloosa APA-219, transporting troops in the Pacific beginning January 1945. A problem with the ship’s generator kept it from deploying to Iwo Jima, but it carried Marines to the Battle of Okinawa. He watched as a kamikaze approached the anchored Okaloosa before the pilot changed route at the last minute and hit a destroyer instead. The Okaloosa went from Okinawa to the Philippine Islands to practice landings for the impending invasion of Japan, but with the dropping of the atomic bombs, that practice was never put to use. After the surrender of Japan, the ship took occupying forces to Tokyo Bay, then transported Chinese soldiers from French IndoChina to China. He was on the Okaloosa when it returned to Tacoma, Washington on December 17, 1945. He spent the final six months of his service as a Lieutenant Junior Grade on the USS Rainier, an ammunition ship.