Branch of Service
U.S. Navy
Hometown
Golden Meadow, Louisiana
Honored By
Orville L. Kline
Rank: Fireman First Class. He was inducted into the United States Navy at Lafayette, Louisiana. After completing boot camp, he was transferred to the USS Indianapolis Heavy Cruiser, CA-35 for duty as a Fireman. After delivering parts for the first atomic bomb to the U.S. Air Base on the island of Tinian, Western Pacific Theater of Operations, the Cruiser along with her shipmates departed for the Philippine Islands. Reported missing in action, lost at sea when the warship was hit by two torpedoes from an Imperial Japanese submarine Monday, July 30, 1945, sinking in twelve minutes. His name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at the American Cemetery at Fort William-McKinley in Manila, Philippine Islands. In his Memory and Honor, a cenotaph memorial has been placed at the Saint John the Evangelist Church Cemetery in Thibodaux, Louisiana. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.