World War II Honoree

William Perry Ford

Branch of Service

U.S. Navy

Hometown

Paragould, Arkansas

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Seaman Second Class. He was inducted into the United States Navy August 19, 1941 at Nashville, Tennessee, with recruit training at the U.S. Naval Training Station at Great Lakes, Illinois. Served aboard the USS Bismarck Sea, Escort Aircraft Carrier CVE-95 in the Pacific Theater of Operations. On February 16, 1945 the Carrier and her shipmates, along with an armada of U.S. Battleships, Destroyers, Cruisers and other Warships, arrived offshore of Iwo Jima in support of the impending invasion (Battle Dates: February 19-March 26, 1945). Reported missing in action, lost at sea Wednesday, February 21, 1945 when two Imperial Japanese Kamikaze Pilots flew into the carrier. The first aircraft flew into this seagoing airbase on the starboard side, crashing through the hangar deck, striking the ship’s ammunition storage area. The second plane struck the aft elevator shaft, destroying the fire fighting salt water distribution system. The ship’s Captain gave the order to abandon ship, after the second Kamikaze strike, with the loss of three hundred lives. His name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at the Honolulu National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, ‘Punchbowl’ Hawaii. In his Memory and Honor, a cenotaph memorial has been placed at the Browns Chapel Cemetery in Paragould, Arkansas. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.